Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming. File Photo: Xinhua

As the US is strengthening its efforts to woo Bangladesh to join its anti-China campaign,  China's Ambassador to Bangladesh told the Global Times in an exclusive interview on Friday that the US is trying to drive a wedge between China and Bangladesh and the root cause of which is the US cannot accept China's rapid development and peaceful rise.

China's Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming said that in the context of the ever-intensifying tensions between China and the US this century, the US has frequently adopted various methods against China in a range of areas.

"The root cause of US' anxiety is that the US cannot accept China's rapid development and peaceful rise. Some [US] politicians are trying to restart the 'Cold War,' coercing other countries to join the anti-China camp to interrupt China's development process," Li said. 

On June 29, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had a phone call with Bangladeshi Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen. In September, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper spoke with Bangladesh Prime Minister  and Minister of Defense Sheikh Hasina over the phone, clearly proposing to strengthen US-Bangladesh defense cooperation.

In mid-October, US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun visited Bangladesh and held meetings with Prime Minister Hasina and other key government officials, attempting to sell the "Indo-Pacific strategy" to Bangladesh. 

"These meetings show the US has made continuous moves with ulterior motives," Li said.

"I want to emphasize that China has the wisdom and ability to escape the so-called 'Thucydides Trap' and urge some anti-China politicians in the US to abandon their outdated Cold War mentality and zero-sum game," the ambassador stressed. 

The US will eventually have more people of insight who can correctly view China and China-US relations, and push bilateral relations back to the right track of coordination, cooperation, and stability and actively contributing to global development, he noted.