From the Rules Based Order to the 'New Operating System'

We have new language, but Mao Ning has already smacked it down.



This is Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning from the Regular Press Conference – China, on October 10

Question CCTV:

At an online conversation hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace a few days ago, US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said that China thinks the US is in decline, and increasingly displays its belief that “it is China’s time to assert itself and move Washington off the global stage.” He said that the United States with other countries has been involved in a project to build an “operating system” globally, of which China is the largest beneficiary, but some of the changes that China wants to make now would “go at the very heart of that operating system.” He also said that in many respects, US-China relations have gone into a new period in which “the dominant paradigm is competition.” What is China’s comment on this?

Mao Ning:

Now again we hear remarks steeped in Cold-War and zero-sum mentality and US-style hegemonism, which clearly were designed to peddle another false narrative about “China threat” and major-country competition as pretexts to contain and suppress China.

China’s development goal is to improve the life of the over 1.4 billion Chinese people. We have no intention to outcompete anyone, nor replace or challenge anyone. China is glad to see development and progress in the US. I’m afraid it is out of lack of confidence that some in the US repeatedly say that “China thinks the US is in decline.” China does not bet against the US, and we hope the US will not bet against China. The Chinese people will realize the great rejuvenation of the nation.

We do not know what the US officials are referring to when they talk about so-called global “operating system” built by the US and other countries globally. China believes there is only one system in the world, which is the international system with the UN at its core; there is only one order, which is the international order underpinned by international law; and there is only one set of rules, which are the basic norms governing international relations based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. China is committed to peaceful development and upholding the UN-centered international system and basic norms governing international relations. By contrast, it is the US who is obsessed with the old dream of Cold War, unipolar supremacy, selective approach to international rules, exclusive groupings, and bloc confrontation. The US is the biggest source of instability in international order.

We always believe major-country competition is not what the world needs and will by no means solve the US’s own problems or address challenges facing the world. There are factors of competition in China-US relations, but the overall bilateral ties should not be defined or dominated by competition. We never shy away from or fear competition, but competition should be healthy instead of being reduced to a zero-sum or winner-takes-all game, still less resorting to unscrupulous suppression and malicious confrontation.

We urge the US to stop creating all kinds of new terms to peddle the so-called “China threat” narrative.



The US needs to form an objective and right perception of China, return to the rational and practical policy toward China, act on President Biden’s commitment, uphold the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation in its relations with China, and promote the steady, sound and sustainable development of bilateral ties.