4 yıl önce

China calls for end of Cold War mentality in US relations

The comments were made during meetings in Anchorage, Alaska, where US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said China's actions "threaten the rules-based order that maintains global stability."

Reuters

Top US and Chinese diplomats hold talks at the Captain Cook Hotel in Anchorage, Alaska, US, March 18, 2021.

The Chinese Communist Party's top diplomat has threatened "firm actions" against "US interference" and called for an end to the "Cold War mentality" stunting the rivals' relationship.

"China is firmly opposed to US interference in China's internal affairs," Yang Jiechi, the director of the Chinese Communist Party's Central Foreign Affairs Commission Office said at the summit with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Alaska.

"We have expressed our staunch opposition to such interference, and we will take firm actions in response."

"What we need to do is to abandon the Cold War mentality, and the zero sum game approach" he added.

The meetings in Anchorage were a new test in increasingly troubled relations between the two countries, which are at odds over a range of issues from trade to human rights in Tibet, Hong Kong and China’s western Xinjiang region, as well as about Taiwan, China’s assertiveness in the South China Sea and the coronavirus pandemic.

US: China's actions 'threaten' global stability

China's actions "threaten the rules-based order that maintains global stability," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at the meeting.

The US side will "discuss our deep concerns with actions by China, including Xinjiang," where Washington has accused Beijing of "genocide" against Uyghur Muslims, Blinken said.

He added that there would be dialogue on "Hong Kong, Taiwan, cyber attacks on the United States, economic coercion toward our allies."

President Joe Biden's national security advisor Jake Sullivan added that the United States did not want conflict with China but welcomed tough competition with its strategic rival.

"And we will always stand up for our principles for our people, and for our friends," Sullivan warned.

A senior US official criticised Beijing as having "arrived intent on grandstanding, focused on public theatrics and dramatics over substance" at the Alaska summit.

The official said this was made clear by Jiechi "promptly violating protocol" with a long opening statment instead of a previously agreed upon short two-minute speech.

US-China ties have been torn for years, and the Biden administration has yet to signal whether it’s ready or willing to back down on the hard-line stances taken under Donald Trump.

Just a day before the meeting, Blinken had announced new sanctions over Beijing's crackdown on anti-China advocates in Hong Kong. In response, China stepped up its rhetoric opposing US interference in domestic affairs.

Trump had taken pride in forging what he saw as a strong relationship with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. But the relationship disintegrated after the coronavirus pandemic spread from the Wuhan province across the globe and unleashed a public health and economic disaster.