Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang warned Tuesday that Beijing and Washington are headed for “conflict and confrontation” if the U.S. doesn’t change course.
Qin Gang’s tone was combative, but at times he also played down the inevitability of such conflict, urging America to reconsider its alignment and actions.
Yet there is little doubt that relations between China and the US are at a historic low after several incidents that escalated the sometimes latent, sometimes active, hostility between them.
The recent friction that developed after the Chinese “spy” balloon flew over the US and was eventually shot down by the American military vastly damaged the relationship.
In his first news conference since taking office late last year, Qin’s harsh language made it clear that China will not abandon its aggressive “wolf warrior” diplomacy in favor of more moderate rhetoric as the two countries face off over trade and technology, Taiwan, human rights and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Washington’s China policy has “entirely deviated from the rational and sound track,” Qin told journalists on the sidelines of the annual meeting of China’s legislature, when leaders lay out their economic and political priorities for the coming year.
“If the United States does not hit the brake, but continues to speed down the wrong path, no amount of guardrails can prevent derailing and there surely will be conflict and confrontation,” said Qin, whose new position is junior to the Communist Party’s senior foreign policy official, Wang Yi.
He added that, “Such competition is a reckless gamble, with the stakes being the fundamental interests of the two peoples and even the future of humanity.”
Qin’s comments echoed remarks made by leader Xi Jinping in a speech Monday to legislators.
Xi was quoted by the official Xinhua News Agency as saying that the US has influenced the Western countries to “have implemented all-round containment, blockade and suppression of China, which has brought unprecedented grave challenges to our nation’s development.”
Attempting to taking the moral high ground, Xi stated that China must “remain calm, maintain concentration, strive for progress while maintaining stability, take active actions, unite as one, and dare to fight”.
U.S. officials have grown increasingly worried about China’s expansive political and economic goals and the possibility of war over Taiwan — and many officials in Washington have called for the U.S. to make a bigger effort to counter Chinese influence abroad.
On Taiwan, Qin called the issue the first red line that must not be crossed. China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949. While the U.S. does not advocate for either unification or Taiwan’s formal independence, Washington is obligated by federal law to see that the island has the means to defend itself if attacked.
Just this week the Wall Street Journal reported that a small contingent of US troops has been quietly training Taiwan’s military amid concerns about China and that the US personnel in Taiwan reportedly includes Marines and special operators. The Pentagon did not comment on the news, but said US support for Taiwan is aligned against threats posed by China.
“The U.S. has unshakable responsibility for causing the Taiwan question,” Qin said, accusing the U.S. of “disrespecting China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” by offering the island political backing and furnishing it with defensive weapons in response to Beijing’s threat to use force to bring it under Chinese control.
He then also alluded to another point of contention: US aid to Ukraine. “Why does the U.S. ask China not to provide weapons to Russia, while it keeps selling arms to Taiwan?” Qin asked.
“Efforts for peace talks have been repeatedly undermined. There seems to be an invisible hand pushing for the protraction and escalation of the conflict and using the Ukraine crisis to serve a certain geopolitical agenda,” Qin said.
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