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BEIJING: China and the United States must act together with “goodwill” to improve relations, the Chinese ambassador to Washington said on Saturday (December 5), as ties remain strained between the world’s two biggest economic powers.
Relations between China and the United States have fallen to their lowest point in decades due to issues ranging from trade and security to human rights and COVID-19. On Friday, an editorial in Chinese state media said the ties are moving “down a dangerous path.”
“To put relations on the right track, to have a real improvement in relations, both parties must proceed with good will and good faith,” Ambassador Cui Tiankai said at the Annual Conference of the Institute for China-American Studies through a video. link.
“I don’t think China should do anything to please anyone here,” he said, according to a transcript posted on his embassy website.
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Tensions between the two countries escalated dramatically in July when China closed the US consulate in the southwestern city of Chengdu in retaliation for Beijing’s expulsion from its consulate in Houston, Texas.
Earlier this year, Washington reduced the number of Chinese nationals allowed to work in the US offices of major Chinese state media. Beijing then expelled the American journalists from the China offices of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post.
READ: China delays renewal of credentials for journalists in US media
POSITIVE GESTURES
When asked by the chairman of the National Committee on US-China Relations Steve Orlins if China is prepared to reopen the Chengdu consulate among other positive gestures before President-elect Joe Biden takes office in January, Cui did not rule out the possibility.
“I must say that we did not initiate the closure of consulates. We were not the first to ask foreign journalists to leave the country. We did all of these things in response to actions taken by the United States. So if the United States government is ready to reverse course, we are ready to look at it, “said Cui.
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But, Orlins said, Beijing had unilaterally taken action against American interests, including blocking the websites of the three newspapers, as well as Facebook, Google, YouTube and Twitter, and Washington did not respond to those actions.
“There were provocations. If you look at what happened in the last year,” Cui replied.
