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BEIJING – China’s foreign minister said Thursday that the United States is “obsessed” with suppressing China, which could jeopardize efforts to strengthen ties between the world’s two largest economies.
Relations between the two countries were at their lowest in decades last year, amid disputes over technology, trade, human rights, the status of Taiwan, a Chinese reconnaissance balloon allegedly shot down over the United States, and Beijing’s stance on wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. It has deteriorated to the lowest level.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi said there has been “some improvement” in U.S.-China relations since President Joe Biden and President Xi Jinping held their first summit in a year in California in November. But the U.S. still has the wrong perception about China and is trying to limit China’s development, Wang said, adding that the list of unilateral sanctions against Chinese tech companies and other companies is “an extraordinary level of “It has reached the point of unfathomable absurdity.”
“If the United States says one thing and does another, where is its credibility as a major power?” He spoke at a press conference. “If we get nervous every time we hear the word ‘China,’ where does our confidence as a major power lie?”
“The challenges facing the United States lie within the United States itself, not China,” Wang continued, noting that this year marks the 45th anniversary of formal U.S.-China relations. “If the United States persists in suppressing China, it will ultimately harm itself.”
Wang, 70, is a former foreign minister who also holds the title of China’s top diplomat, but he returned to the post last year after his successor, Qin Gang, was fired without explanation after about six months in office. Mr. Hata has not appeared in public since June last year.
This week’s National People’s Congress in Beijing was seen as a potential opportunity to announce a new foreign minister, but that now appears unlikely.
Regarding the Israel-Hamas war, Wang said, “We cannot ignore the long-standing occupation of Palestinian territory,” and called for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all prisoners, and the provision of humanitarian aid.
“Only by bringing justice to the Palestinian people and fully implementing the two-state solution can we break the cycle of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
Wang also cited tensions in the South China Sea, a strategic shipping lane that Beijing claims virtually all of, sparking territorial disputes with the Philippines, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian neighbors.
Philippine authorities this week accused a Chinese ship of interfering with a resupply mission to soldiers stationed at Second Thomas Shoal, a sunken reef claimed by China, the Philippines and other countries. Video provided by the Philippine Coast Guard showed the Chinese vessel using water cannon on the supply vessel, shattering its windshield.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday that the Philippines had violated China’s territorial sovereignty and that China’s operations were “professional, restrained, legitimate and lawful.”
“When faced with unjust provocation, we will respond with prompt and legitimate countermeasures,” Wang said on Thursday.
Regarding Taiwan, an autonomous democracy that Beijing claims as its own territory, Wang said that elections in Taiwan in January “are nothing more than local elections in some regions of China.”
“This result does not change in the slightest the fundamental fact that Taiwan is part of China,” he said.
Taiwan rejects Beijing’s claims to sovereignty, saying only the island’s 23 million people can decide its future. The winner of the presidential election, Vice President Lai Qingde, supports the status quo but is seen by the Chinese government as a separatist and a “troublemaker.”
Wang said that while China will continue to strive for “peaceful reunification” with Taiwan, Beijing’s conclusion is “very clear. We will never allow Taiwan to be separated from the Chinese motherland.” Ta.
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