Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi attends a press conference on China's foreign policy and foreign relations via video link on the sidelines of the fifth session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 7, 2022. (Xinhua/Chen Zhonghao)

The US is working to have a zero-sum competition with China, provoke China on issues that are related to China's core interests and draw small circles to contain China, a move that not only hurt bilateral relations but damages international peace and stability, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi told a press conference Monday afternoon on the sidelines of the fifth session of the 13th National People's Congress.

During the press conference, which lasted for around 100 minutes, Wang answered questions of journalists from home and abroad on China's foreign policy and foreign relations, including those on the Ukraine situation, China-US relations, China's policies in Asia-Pacific and Latin America and Africa. 

The US leader and some senior officials claimed that they did not seek a new Cold War, nor changing China's system or strengthening alliances to confront China, nor will they support the separatists in the island of Taiwan, Wang said, noting that it's a pity to see that all these remarks have been in the air and never come to the ground. 

Wang said that the US is relentlessly having a zero-sum competition with China, provoking China on issues that are related to China's core interests and drawing small circles in the international community to contain China. This not only harm bilateral relations between the two countries but also damage international stability, he said.

"This is not what a responsible country or a credible country should do. China, as a sovereign state, has the right to firmly safeguard its interests," Wang said.  

In a globalized and interdependent world, how China and the US find the right way forward and manage to get along is both a new question for humanity and a formulation that must be worked out by China and the US together, Wang said. 

Wang's remarks showcased China's clear stance in upholding true multilateralism, not the small circles that the US government is touting, which will lead to confrontations and clashes in the world. And only by choosing true materialism can the world regain stability and peace, Yang Xiyu, a senior research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times.

China's policy toward the US is consistent and is always made for the interests of the people from the two countries and the world. It never aims to compete with the US or other countries but to seek peaceful coexistence with other countries, Yang said, noting that this is also what the Chinese Foreign Minister wanted to reiterated in the Monday press conference. 

In response to the US Indo-Pacific Strategy, Wang noted that from strengthening the Five Eyes to peddling the Quad, from piecing together AUKUS to tightening bilateral military alliances, the US is staging a "five-four-three-two" formation in the Asia-Pacific. This is by no means some kind of blessing for the region, but a sinister move to disrupt regional peace and stability, Wang noted. 

The Chinese Foreign Minister said that the real goal of the US Indo-Pacific strategy is to establish an Indo-Pacific version of NATO. It seeks to maintain the US-led system of hegemony, undermine the ASEAN-centered regional cooperation architecture and compromise the overall and long-term interests of countries in the region. 

"The perverse actions run counter to the common aspiration of the region for peace, development, cooperation and win-win outcomes. They are doomed to fail," said Wang. 

In response to the small circles that the US is drawing around China, China is and will always insist on its own path of making friends and not seeking alliances. Unlike the US' playing cards of confrontations and clashes, China is promoting multilateralism, cooperation and development, Yang said.

Yang said that the time and practices will make China's neighboring countries and the world know clearly whether China or the US is bringing peace and stability to the region and the world.