China-US Graphic: GT

China-US relations should be guided by common interests, shared responsibilities and friendship between the two peoples, not US domestic politics and hysterical neo-McCarthyism, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said at a press conference during the two sessions on Tuesday. 

Answering to a question raised by US National Broadcasting Company (NBC) on China-US relations, Qin said that by seeing China as its main rival and the most serious geopolitical challenge, the US' perception of China, like doing up wrong the first button on a shirt, has largely deviated from a rational path.

The US' so-called competition with China is in fact an all-round suppression and containment, a zero-sum game where one lives and the other dies. Like a dishonest runner in an Olympic race, the US doesn't want to do its best but wants to trip its rival or even make the other run in the Paralympics. "This is not fair but absolute foul play!" the Chinese Foreign Minister remarked. 

"The US so-called guardrails or the concept of non-conflict in its relations with China actually means that China must not fight back. But this cannot be done," noted Qin. 

If the US does not hit the brakes and continues along the wrong path, even more guardrails cannot stop the derailment and eventually overturning of the car. Such competition is a gamble with the fundamental interests of the two peoples and even the future of mankind, and China is of course firmly opposed to it, Qin said.

Speaking of the unmanned airship incident, the Chinese foreign minister reiterated that it was purely an accident caused by force majeure. However, the US has violated the spirit of international law and practice by presumption of guilt, overreacting and dramatizing the case, and thus created a diplomatic crisis that could have been avoided.  

If the US has the ambition to make America great again, it should also have the grace to let other countries thrive. Suppression will not make the US greater, and it will not stop China's march toward rejuvenation, Qin said. 

On the Taiwan question, Qin said the issue is the nation's first uncrossable red line. If the Taiwan question is not handled properly, China-US relations will be thrown off course. If the US truly wants peace across the Taiwan Straits, it should stop using the island to contain China, and make clear its opposition to secessionist forces. 

Qin reiterated that China will always remain committed to promoting the healthy and stable development of bilateral ties in accordance with the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation. 

He expressed the hope that the US government will listen to the voices of the two peoples, eliminate the strategic anxiety, abandon a Cold War mentality and reject the unwarranted abduction of "political correctness," but honor its commitments and walk in the same direction as China.

Global Times