The US should change its “distorted” attitude toward China or face “conflict and confrontation,” China’s foreign minister said on Tuesday, defending the country’s stance on the Ukraine conflict and its close ties with Russia.
Foreign Minister Qin Gang told a news conference on the sidelines of the annual parliament meeting in Beijing that the United States had been suppressing and containing China rather than engaging in fair, rule-based competition.
“The perception and views of China in the United States are seriously distorted,” Qin said.
“It sees China as its main rival and the most significant geopolitical challenge. This is equivalent to putting the first button on the shirt incorrectly.”
Relations between the two superpowers have been strained for years over a variety of issues, including Taiwan, trade, and, more recently, the Ukraine war, but they deteriorated last month when the US shot down a balloon off the US east coast that it claimed was a Chinese spying craft.
The US claims to be establishing guardrails for relations and is not seeking conflict, but Qin explained that in practice, this meant that China was not supposed to respond with words or action when slandered or attacked.
“That is simply impossible,” Qin said at his first news conference since taking over as foreign minister in December.
“If the United States does not apply the brakes and continues down the wrong path, no amount of guardrails will prevent derailment, which will lead to conflict and confrontation, and who will bear the catastrophic consequences?”
Qin compared the Sino-American rivalry to a race between two Olympic athletes.
“If one side, instead of focusing on giving one’s best, always tries to trip the other up, even to the point of having to enter the Paralympics, then this is not fair competition,” he said.
‘JACKALS AND WOLVES’
Qin defended “wolf warrior diplomacy,” an assertive and often abrasive stance adopted by China’s diplomats since 2020, during a nearly two-hour news conference in which he answered questions submitted in advance.
“When jackals and wolves obstruct our path and hungry wolves attack us, Chinese diplomats must dance with the wolves to protect and defend our home and country,” he explained.
Qin also claimed that an “invisible hand” was pushing for the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine “to serve certain geopolitical agendas,” without naming anyone.
He reaffirmed China’s call for peace talks to end the war.
Last year, just weeks before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, China struck a “no limits” partnership with Russia, and China has blamed NATO expansion for sparking the conflict, echoing Russia’s complaint.
Despite Western criticism for failing to single out Russia as the aggressor, China has refused to condemn the invasion and has fiercely defended its stance on Ukraine.
China has also categorically denied US allegations that it is considering supplying Russia with weapons.
ADVANCING RELATIONS WITH MOSCOW
Qin stated that as the world becomes more volatile, China must advance its relations with Russia and that close interactions between President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, have anchored the neighbors’ relations.
When asked if Xi would visit Russia after China’s parliament session, which continues for another week, he did not give a definitive answer.
Since Russia’s invasion of its southern neighbor a year ago, Xi has met with Putin several times but not with his Ukrainian counterpart. According to Kyiv’s top diplomat in Beijing, this undermines China’s claim of neutrality in the conflict.
When asked if China and Russia could abandon the US dollar and euro for bilateral trade, Qin said countries should use whatever currency was efficient, safe, and credible.
China has been attempting to internationalize its renminbi, or yuan, which gained popularity in Russia last year after Western sanctions barred Russia’s banks and many of its companies from using the dollar and euro payment systems.
“Currencies should not be used as a trump card for unilateral sanctions, let alone as a cover for bullying or coercion,” Qin said.
