‘ US can’t partner, confront China at the same time’
Puzzled stance mixing hostility, bias, demanding to cooperate no surprise’
Senior US officials’ most recent remarks on China, which showed a puzzled stance mixed with hostility, bias and demands of cooperation, have brought no surprise to China, said Chinese experts on Thursday, adding that the US can’t partner and confront with China at the same time.
Chinese diplomats have released clear and appropriate voices to urge the Biden administration to correct the mistakes made by the former Trump administration, and also reaffirm China’s bottom line. Chinese analysts said before having concrete cooperation and dialogue with the US, China has patience and calmness to wait for the US to handle its domestic mess and issue a more clear and constructive policy toward China.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a press conference on Wednesday, his first full day on the job, that he favored cooperation with China on climate change and other issues of shared concern, according to the press release sent by the US Department of State, but he still endorsed his predecessor Mike Pompeo’s groundless and hostile determination of genocide on China’s domestic affairs in Xinjiang.
Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson of Chinese Foreign Ministry, responded to Blinken’s endorsement of Pompeo’s stance on Xinjiang at a routine press
conference on Thursday that “The important issue needs to be repeated three times: China has no genocide, China has no genocide, China has no genocide. Period.”
Jin Canrong, associate dean of the School of International Studies at the Renmin University of China, told the Global Times on Thursday that Blinken’s statement is not out of expectation of what Chinese scholars expect of China- US ties. “It’s clear that the US places the greatest importance on China, with a negative attitude.”
“Blinken has expressed their demand for cooperation, but is still reluctant to abandon biased and hostile narratives on China’s domestic affairs and core interests,” Jin noted.
Lü Xiang, an expert of US studies with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, told the Global Times on Thursday that senior US officials must understand that “If you want to have dinner with us [ cooperation], you can’t spit at us at the table [ confrontation]. We hope Biden and Blinken could be more decent and mature, and disrespected like Donald Trump and Pompeo.”
“To contain China, Mission Impossible!” Senior Colonel Wu Qian, a spokesperson of China’s Ministry of National Defense, said at a regular press conference on Thursday in English while speaking on China- US military ties.
Lü said US officials should understand that whether they like China or not, the Trump administration has tried almost every nasty measure to contain China and stigmatize China, but this has brought great loss to themselves in terms of weakening soft power, rising military tensions, losing business interests and worsening the epidemic situation, while
China experienced no significant damage and kept developing.
“The Biden administration should wake up, and even as a competitor to the US, we don’t want to see our rival keep hurting themselves like this. We understand the US has low confidence at this point as it has a great mess and troubles at home, so it wants to appear tough to cover what’s inside in front of us. We have patience to wait for them to issue a mature and clear policy to fix ties with us,” Lü noted.
US Cui Tiankai said in a keynote speech at an online dialogue organized by the Chinese People’s Association for Peace and Disarmament and the Carter Center on Thursday that “At this historical juncture, we are facing a consequential choice again… China and the United States must remain closely connected, and restore trust, respect and normalcy between them. While China wishes America full success in building unity, in healing and in restoration, it is also hoped that integrity, candor, respect and vision will return to its China policy.”
“At this historical juncture, we are facing a consequential choice again… China and the United States must remain closely connected, and restore trust, respect and normalcy between them.”
Cui Tiankai,
China’s Ambassador to the US
Don’t be naïve
Blinken demanded cooperation with China at Wednesday’s press conference. “It’s not a secret that the relationship between the US and China is the most important relationship that we have in the world going forward. It’s going to shape a lot of the future, and increasingly that relationship has some adversarial aspects to it.”
“And it also still has cooperative ones.” Blinken mentioned “climate” and he said it’s in the interest of China, the US and the rest of the world, “so I think and hope that we’ll be able to pursue that.” But White House special presidential envoy for climate John Kerry said on Wednesday that no issues the US has with China will be “traded” for climate.
Lü told the Global Times that “US officials would be too naïve if they believe China will accept dialogue and cooperation with no basis for equality and mutual respect.”
China has been very clear on its bottom line – cooperation with the US cannot undermine China’s security, development interests and sovereignty, such as on affairs related to Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Taiwan, said Xin Qiang, deputy director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University.
Jin said China’s attitude would be very pragmatic. “The security issues have always been on top, including Taiwan and the South China Sea, as any conflict would be a disaster. The second one is economy and trade, as it’s about everyone’s livelihood. So if the US could be constructive or add no more tensions in these two fields, it is possible to restart dialogue or cooperation.”