Vice-minister hits out at US’ anti-China behavior

This combo photo shows Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Xie Feng (left) and  US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman. (PHOTO/XINHUA/AP)

TIANJIN – Foreign Ministry Vice-Minister Xie Feng has said the China-US relationship is in a stalemate, "faces serious difficulties", and the fundamental reason behind this is because some Americans portray China as an "imagined enemy".

Xie, vice-minister in charge of US affairs, made the remarks during talks with visiting US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman on Monday morning in Tianjin.

We urge the United States to change its highly misguided mindset and dangerous policy.

Xie Feng, Chinese Foreign Ministry Vice-Minister

He noted the "Pearl Harbor moment" and "Sputnik moment" have been brought up by some Americans when talking about conflict with China and challenges facing the US.

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Some international scholars, including some US academics, perceive this as comparing China to Japan in World War II and the Soviet Union in the Cold War, he said.

By making China an "imagined enemy", he added, a national sense of purpose could be reignited in the US, and their hope may be that by demonizing China, the US could shift domestic public discontent over political, economic and social issues.

"A whole-of-government and whole-of-society campaign is being waged to bring China down", Xie said, adding the belief appears to be when China's development is contained, all US domestic and external challenges would go away, and the US would "become great" again and the so-called Pax Americana would continue.

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Bilateral ties

In terms of the US' "competitive, collaborative and adversarial" rhetoric, Xie said this was a thinly veiled attempt to contain and suppress China.

The Chinese people feel that the real emphasis is on the adversarial aspect, the collaborative aspect is just expediency, and the competitive aspect is a narrative trap, he said.

China wants to work with the United States to seek common ground while shelving the differences … After all, a healthy and stable China-US relationship serves the interests of both sides. And the world expects nothing less from the two sides.

Xie Feng

The US policy seems to be demanding cooperation when it wants something from China; decoupling, cutting off supplies, blockading or sanctioning China when it believes it has an advantage; and resorting to conflict and confrontation at all costs, he added.

"It seems that the United States only thinks about addressing its own concerns, getting the results it wants and advancing its own interests. Do bad things and get good results. How is that even possible?" Xie said.

What the world needs most is solidarity and cooperation, for humanity are passengers in the same boat, according to Xie.

"The Chinese people cherish peace," said Xie, adding that what China hopes to build is a new type of international relations featuring mutual respect, equality, justice and win-win cooperation, and a community with a shared future for mankind.

"China wants to work with the United States to seek common ground while shelving the differences," he said.

The US side needs to change course and work with China on the basis of mutual respect and embrace fair competition and peaceful coexistence with China.

"After all, a healthy and stable China-US relationship serves the interests of both sides. And the world expects nothing less from the two sides," he added.

The US side's so-called "rules-based international order" is designed to benefit itself at others' expense, hold other countries back and introduce "the law of the jungle," Xie said.

This is an effort by the US and a few other Western countries to frame their own rules as international rules and impose them on other countries.

The US has abandoned the universally-recognized international law and order and damaged the international system it has helped to build, he said. "It is trying to replace it with a so-called 'rules-based international order.'"

"The purpose is to resort to the tactic of changing the rules to make life easy for itself and hard for others, and to introduce 'the law of the jungle' where might is right and the big bully the small," Xie added.

Coercive diplomacy

The US is the "inventor and patent and intellectual property owner" of coercive diplomacy, Xie said.

The Chinese believe that one must not do to others what one does not like to be done to himself. The desire to seek hegemony or territorial expansion is simply not in the Chinese DNA, according to Xie.

It is the United States who has engaged in broad unilateral sanctions, long-arm jurisdiction and interference in other countries' internal affairs.

Xie Feng

"China has never coerced any country," he said, adding that China responds to foreign interference with legitimate and lawful countermeasures, and the aim is to defend the legitimate rights and interests of the country and uphold international equity and justice.

China has never gone to others' doorsteps to provoke trouble. Neither has China ever stretched its arm into the households of others, still less has China ever occupied any inch of other countries' territory, he said.

"It is the United States who has engaged in broad unilateral sanctions, long-arm jurisdiction and interference in other countries' internal affairs," he said.

The US' notion of "engaging other countries from a position of strength" is just another version of the big bullying the small and "might is right." This is pure coercive diplomacy, he added.  

Xie criticized the US for manufacturing issues with China, noting that the US side appears to have nothing else to talk about.

"We urge the United States to change its highly misguided mindset and dangerous policy," he said.

China has put forward two lists to the US during the talks, one of which is the "List of US Wrongdoings that Must Stop" and the other is the "List of Key Individual Cases that China Has Concerns" with, Xie said.

The US is in no position to lecture China on democracy and human rights, said Xie, urging the US to address its own human rights issues first

US urged to address its human rights issues first

The US is in no position to lecture China on democracy and human rights, said Xie, urging the US to address its own human rights issues first.

Xie pointed out that historically, the US had engaged in genocide against Native Americans. Presently, the US has lost 620,000 lives because of its halting response to COVID-19. Internationally, the frequent US military action and the wars caused by US lies have brought undue catastrophe to the world. 

"How can the United States portray itself as the world's spokesperson for democracy and human rights?" Xie asked.

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Xie said the US side was in no position to lecture China on democracy and human rights. 

Without the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China, an effective political system and a development path suited to China's circumstances, how could it be possible for the Chinese people to ever generate such immense creativity and productivity if people on the streets in China were all denied democracy, freedoms and human rights? Without those, how could a super-sized country like China with over a billion people ever achieve the twin miracles of rapid economic growth and sustained social stability? And how could it be possible for the Chinese nation to make the great transformation from standing up to growing rich, and to becoming strong within just 100 years?

Western surveys have shown that over 90 percent of Chinese are satisfied with the government, which is quite remarkable for any country in the world, Xie added.  

With Xinhua inputs