U.S. protectionism, unilateralism sowing “selfish” ideas among countries

Phnom Penh, Cambodia | XINHUA | Protectionism and unilateralism from the U.S. are sowing a “selfish” idea among other countries and go against the current of multilateralism and globalization, Kin Phea, director general of the International Relations Institute of Cambodia, has told Xinhua.

Speaking at a roundtable discussion under the theme “How has Cambodia prepared itself for today and tomorrow?,” Phea said ongoing trade frictions between the United States and China have created negative impacts on all countries across the world, with none benefiting from the spat.

“The U.S. has tried to persuade its allies to counter China, but one must remember that countering China has provided no benefit to any side, including the U.S. itself,” he said.

“The absolute majority of the countries in the world support multilateralism and globalization in both politics and commerce, while only a handful of countries supporting the trend of protectionism and unilateralism,” he added.

Phea said the world needs a multilateral mechanism to solve problems in politics, economics, and trade, as well as disasters such as climate change, global warming and the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We need joint efforts from all states,” he said. “Thus, the departure of the U.S. from the World Health Organization is a wrong move as this global organization has provided a lot of assistance to countries with a weak health system.”

Sharing his view on the U.S.’ suppression of Chinese high-tech companies including ZTE and Huawei, as well as platforms such as TikTok and WeChat, Phea said the U.S.’ actions could lead to a further downturn in the global economy, which has already been hit hard by COVID-19.

“I think it is a current that goes against the global trend, as the world is talking about the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the digital economy,” he said.

Phea said China’s peaceful development is a boon for the rest of the world.

“Currently, China has become the key locomotive of regional and global growth,” he said. “For Cambodia, the kingdom has received tremendous benefit from its relations with China.”

Pich Charadine, deputy executive director of the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace, said the pandemic crisis has witnessed increasing protectionist trade measures, especially in regard to medical equipment in the early stages, but then more collaborative efforts to jointly combat the economic fallouts were seen through the speed-up of free trade negotiations, tariff relief measures and bilateral trade boosts.

“We should not be entirely pessimistic of the downturn of multilateralism which are still relatively alive and progress well despite the present hard time,” she said at the event.

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XINHUA