China’s new foreign minister warned that soaring US-China tensions risk blowing past any guardrails in the relationship, showing that divisions between the world’s biggest economies are becoming more entrenched.
(Bloomberg) — China’s new foreign minister warned that soaring US-China tensions risk blowing past any guardrails in the relationship, showing that divisions between the world’s biggest economies are becoming more entrenched.
“The US claims that it seeks to outcompete China but does not seek conflict,” Foreign Minister Qin Gang said Tuesday at his first news briefing since taking office late last year. “Yet in reality, its so-called competition aims to contain and suppress China in all respects and get the two countries locked in a zero-sum game.”
Washington’s approach toward Beijing “is a reckless gamble with the stakes being the fundamental interests of the two peoples and even the future of humanity,” he added.
Qin, who was previously ambassador to the US, blamed Washington for a wide range of problems in geopolitics and the global economy. He accused the US of creating a crisis over Taiwan, criticized the use of sanctions in Russia’s war in Ukraine and said Federal Reserve rate hikes caused capital outflows that have worsened debt problems in some countries.
Qin also pointed to America’s Indo-Pacific strategy, which he said is intended to “encircle China.”
“The US Indo-Pacific strategy, which purportedly aims at upholding freedom and openness, maintaining security and promoting prosperity in the region, is in fact an attempt to gang up to form exclusive blocs to provoke confrontation by plotting an Asia-Pacific version of NATO,” Qin said. “No Cold War should be reignited and no Ukraine-style crisis should be repeated in Asia.”
The remarks — coming with China’s most senior officials gathered in Beijing for the annual National People’s Congress legislative session — signal that tensions will likely continue to sour ties between the nations.
While a meeting between Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping in November initially put relations on a steadier footing, with hopes that more senior-level talks would soon get underway, a crisis over an alleged Chinese spy balloon in February ensured that rapprochement didn’t last. The incident prompted Secretary of State Antony Blinken to postpone a planned trip to China, with no new date set. China said the US was overreacting to a weather balloon that blew off course.
When Blinken met his counterpart, Wang Yi, in Germany last month, the two traded barbs over issues including Taiwan, North Korea and potential Chinese support for Russia’s war in Ukraine. Biden has since said he intends to speak with Xi, but no date for that has been announced.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Tuesday that the US continued to seek competition not conflict with China and that there had been no change to Taiwan policy.
“With all due respect to the Chinese foreign minister, there’s no change to the United States posture when it comes to this bilateral relationship,” Kirby said.
The US has stepped up its efforts in recent months to deny China advanced technology. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan last year said the US was looking to maintain “as large a lead as possible” over competitors in certain technologies like advanced computer chips, noting that export controls “can be a new strategic asset in the U.S. and allied toolkit to impose costs on adversaries, and even over time degrade their battlefield capabilities.”
Qin also touched on other hotspot issues in his presentation.
Ukraine-Russia
In remarks that will be parsed in Washington, Kyiv and other capitals, Qin praised the country’s partnership with Russia and said those ties could become increasingly important if the world becomes more unstable.
“China and Russia have found the path of major country relations featuring strategic trust and good neighborliness,” Qin said.
Qin said China-Russia ties aren’t aimed at any third country and he criticized the “Cold War mentality” of other nations who see it as a threat — repeating a frequent criticism of the US. He didn’t respond to a question about whether Xi plans to visit Moscow, as Russian state-controlled media have reported.
Qin hit back at US warnings that Chinese companies have provided dual-use technology to Russia or that the government is considering military aid to Moscow.
“Between fanning the flames and lowering the temperature, we choose the latter,” Qin said. “China did not create the crisis, it is not the party to the crisis, and has not provided weapons to either side of the conflict, so why on earth the blame of sanctions and threats against China? This is absolutely unacceptable.”
Taiwan
Qin repeated that Taiwan is a red line for China: “No one should ever underestimate the firm resolve, strong will and great capability of the Chinese government and people to safeguard its national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Qin said.
He went on to directly link US actions toward Taiwan with Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“Why does the US talk about respecting sovereignty and territorial integrity on Ukraine, while disrespecting China’s sovereignty on Taiwan,” Qin said.
Tensions over Taiwan surged last year when then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei and Beijing responded with unprecedented military drills around the island. US officials have said Xi wants his military to have the capability to take over Taiwan by 2027.
China has been recalibrating its hardline approach to the self-governing island more recently, relaxing some travel and trade restrictions while seeking to forge closer ties with the main opposition party. A government work report delivered to the national legislature on Sunday largely kept Taiwan related language unchanged, suggesting Xi is maintaining his policy even as global tensions increase.
Another potential flashpoint in US-China tensions over Taiwan may have been kicked down the road. The Financial Times on Tuesday reported Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen persuaded House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to meet in the US, after Pelosi’s successor vowed to travel to Taipei after taking office.
Federal Reserve, Debt Crisis
Qin was pressed about whether China has a special responsibility to help poor nations struggling with debt, since Beijing has made large loans to countries such as Sri Lanka and Pakistan as part of its Belt and Road Initiative.
“China should be the last accused of a debt trap,” he said, adding that Beijing has sought to help countries in crisis. Then he hit the US Federal Reserve policy of raising interest rates to combat inflation.
“Interest hikes by US have led to massive capital outflows and worsened debt problems in countries concerned,” he said.
China-Europe Ties
Qin said China views the European Union as a “comprehensive strategic partner” and its relationship with the EU isn’t aimed at the US or other nations.
Yet that relationship has also frayed under the stress of Russia’s war in Ukraine, doubts about Chinese technology and human rights issues. China’s call for a cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine fell flat with Europe, with leaders including the Dutch foreign minister and the German chancellor separately warning China last week against sending arms to Russia.
Europe also increasingly sees China as a strategic competitor that must be deterred from its own ambitions to take control of Taiwan — a prospect that makes Beijing more vulnerable to multilateral export controls, investment restrictions and other measures that could thwart its long-term growth prospects.
A landmark investment deal between Europe and China was frozen in 2021 after China retaliated against Western sanctions over human-rights practices in the country’s Xinjiang region by announcing measures against 10 individuals and four entities from Europe.
‘Wolf Warriors’
Qin joked about the “Wolf Warrior” label that has been used to describe a more assertive foreign policy approach under Xi.
“The truth is, wolf warrior diplomacy is a narrative trap,” he said. “Those who coined the term and set the trap either know little about China and its diplomacy or have a hidden agenda and disregard the facts.”
–With assistance from Li Liu, Colum Murphy, James Mayger and Tom Hancock.
(Updates with Kirby in 10th and 11th paragraph.)
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