China says multilateralism key, mum on support for Qian article

Asian Political News, Nov 8, 2004

BEIJING, Nov. 2 Kyodo

China said Tuesday it views multilateralism as the desired approach for solving problems, but did not say whether it backs criticism published in a state-run newspaper accusing U.S. President George W. Bush of taking unilateral actions.

''It is not enough to rely on one or two countries to resolve all kinds of challenges and crisis,'' Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said at a regular press briefing. ''We believe we should rely on multilateralism to address all those challenges.''

Zhang's comments came a day after a commentary published in the English-language China Daily under the signature of Qian Qichen, a former foreign minister, harshly criticized Bush's preemptive strategies.

Zhang did not say whether the views in the article reflected Beijing's policies. She said that Qian, who still holds sway over foreign policy, did not write the article or give the paper an interview.

''He didn't authorize the publishing of the article,'' she said. Chinese state-run media usually reflect official thinking.

Zhang said China has contacted the United States over the article to clarify its position, without elaborating.

The article was published a day before the U.S. presidential election, in which Bush and his Democratic challenger Sen. John Kerry are neck to neck in national surveys.

The article said that the ''Bush Doctrine'' advocates that ''the United States should rule over the whole world with overwhelming force, military force in particular.''

The troubles and disasters the United States is facing ''do not stem from threats by others, but from its own cocksureness and arrogance,'' it said.

A China Daily employee contacted by phone said that the commentary was based on an article published earlier in a Chinese-language newspaper.