LONDON (Reuters) – China accused the United States on Thursday of fanning a new Cold War because certain politicians were looking for a scapegoat to bolster support ahead of the US presidential election in November.
FILE PHOTO: Chinese Ambassador to Great Britain Liu Xiaoming gestures during a press conference in London, Great Britain, on August 15, 2019. REUTERS / Simon Dawson / File Photo
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, identifies China as the main rival of the West, and has accused President Xi Jinping of taking advantage of trade and not telling the truth about the new coronavirus outbreak, which Trump calls the “plague of China”.
When asked if he saw a new Cold War, China’s ambassador to London Liu Xiaoming said the United States had started a trade war with China and that there would be no winner with that approach.
“It is not China that has become firm. It is the other side of the Pacific Ocean that wants to start a new Cold War in China, so we have to respond to that, “Liu told reporters.” We have no interest in any Cold War, we have no interest in any war. .
“We have all seen what is happening in the United States, they tried to scapegoat China, they want to blame China for its problems,” he said. “We all know that this is an election year.”
The envoy did not mention Trump or Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden by name, but said some American politicians were doing and saying anything to get elected.
“They want to do anything, including treating China as an enemy,” Liu said. “They probably think they need an enemy, they think they want a Cold War but we have no interest, we keep telling the United States that China is not your enemy, China is your friend, your partner.”
United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said earlier this month that the United States wanted to build a global coalition to counter China as it accused Beijing of exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to advance its own interests.
When asked if relations with the United States had irreparably deteriorated, Liu said: “I don’t think we have passed the point of no return.”
After British Prime Minister Boris Johnson banned Huawei’s participation in 5G networks, Liu bluntly warned that the UK would have no future if it tried to secede from the communist state.
“It is hard to imagine a ‘global Britain’ that overlooks or excludes China, decoupling from China means decoupling from opportunities, decoupling from growth and decoupling from the future,” Liu said.
He said London had poisoned relations by meddling in its former colony of Hong Kong and warned that the United Kingdom “would pay the price” if it wanted to treat China as a hostile state.
Reports by Guy Faulconbridge and Kate Holton, Nick Macfie and Mark Potter edition
.
