BEIJING (CHINA) – Urging US to remove all “unreasonable” restrictions on cooperation as soon as possible, the Chinese government’s top diplomat, Wang Yi said that Beijing is willing to communicate with the United States on the basis of mutual respect. This remark came in accordance with US President Joe Biden’s comments where he cited “growing rivalry with China” as a key challenge being faced by Washington.
Wang added that differences between China and the United States must be managed carefully and that the two sides must advocate healthy competition not zero-sum finger-pointing.
Questioned about recent US-China frictions over Taiwan, Xinjiang and the South China Sea during his annual news conference, Wang said that Beijing “will never accept baseless accusations and smears”, and said the United States had used democracy and human rights as a basis for arbitrarily interfering with other countries’ affairs. “The US should realise this as soon as possible, otherwise the world will continue to experience instability,” he added.
United States and China are at odds over topics like Indo-Pacific region, Beijing’s economic practices, Hong Kong, Taiwan and human rights in China’s Xinjiang region.
The Biden administration has indicated it will broadly continue a tough approach to China taken by former President Donald Trump, but do so in coordination will allies.
During Wang’s Sunday news conference, the diplomat also spoke broadly on accusations over human rights abuses in Xinjiang, saying that some Western politicians chose to believe lies about the region.