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BEIJING: Chinese diplomat Wang Yi (pix) He said yesterday that the United States and China could work together on various issues if they repaired their damaged bilateral ties, but Washington accused Beijing of trying to avoid blaming their actions.
Wang, a Chinese state councilor and foreign minister, said Beijing was ready to reopen a constructive dialogue after ties sank to their lowest level in decades under former President Donald Trump.
But he urged Washington to respect China’s fundamental interests, stop “defaming” the ruling Communist Party, stop interfering in Beijing’s internal affairs, and stop “colluding” with separatist forces for Taiwan independence.
He called on the United States to remove tariffs on Chinese goods and abandon what it said was an irrational suppression of the Chinese tech sector.
In response, State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters: “His comments reflect a continuing pattern of Beijing’s tendency to avoid blame for its predatory economic practices, its lack of transparency, its breach of its agreements. and their repression of universal human rights. ” . “
White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters separately that the United States viewed the relationship with China as one of “strong competition.”
Before Wang spoke at a forum sponsored by the Foreign Ministry, officials reproduced footage from 1972 “ping pong diplomacy” when an exchange of table tennis players cleared the way for then-US President Richard Nixon will visit China.
“In recent years, the United States basically cut off bilateral dialogue at all levels,” Wang said in prepared remarks translated into English.
“We are ready to maintain frank communication with the American side and participate in dialogues aimed at solving problems.”
Wang pointed to a recent call between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden as a positive step. Biden succeeded Trump as president on January 20.
Washington and Beijing have clashed on multiple fronts, including trade, allegations of human rights crimes against Muslim Uighur minorities in the Xinjiang region, and Beijing’s land claims in the resource-rich South China Sea.
The Biden administration has signaled that it will keep the pressure on Beijing. The president has raised concerns about China’s “coercive and unfair” trade practices and has backed the Trump administration’s determination that China has committed genocide in Xinjiang.
Confronting China is one of the few areas where Democrats and Republicans in the US Congress find common ground.
The Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, in a statement on China’s crackdown on the former semi-autonomous Hong Kong, yesterday urged to consider strict consequences for Beijing.
“The Chinese government must know that the world is watching its human rights strangulation and that we must put all options on the table to hold China accountable,” said Pelosi, a Democrat. – Reuters
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