Beijing says Blinken speech ‘smears China’
BEIJING: Beijing on Friday criticised a speech delivered by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, which it said “smears China” and exaggerates the “China threat” after the top American diplomat said Beijing was undermining global order.
During a globally-tracked 45-minute China policy speech at George Washington University on Thursday, Blinken said the US was determined to avoid conflict or “a new Cold War” but wanted Beijing to adhere to international rules.
Blinken said the Asian power posed “the most serious longterm challenge to the international order”.
The Chinese foreign ministry on Friday said Blinken had distorted facts.
The ministry said China “firmly opposed” Blinken’s speech, which showed Washington sought to contain and suppress China’s development and maintain US hegemony and power.
“The US side said that China is the most serious long-term challenge to the world order. This is a distortion of the truth, China has always been, is and will be the defender of the international order,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at regular ministry briefing. Wang added that the US spreads misinformation and hypes up the “Chinese threat” to restrain the Asian country’s development.
Despite close trade and economic links, China and US ties have been fraught in recent years over many issues, ranging from human rights, the origins of Covid-19, and Washington’s relations with Taiwan as well as its ’ Indo-pacific strategy.
Blinken accused Beijing of raising tensions over Taiwan - a self-ruled island which China claims as its territory - and said Beijing has “cut off Taiwan’s relations with countries around the world and (is) blocking it from participating in international organisations”.
Blinken’s speech “spreads false information, exaggerates the China threat, interferes in China’s internal affairs and smears China’s domestic and foreign policies”, Wang said.
The US diplomat’s speech came in the backdrop of Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s ongoing tour of several islands in the South Pacific.