During a phone call on Monday, Chinese Foreign Minister (FM) Wang Yi warned United States (US) Secretary of State Antony Blinken against “containing and suppressing” China.
A press release by the Chinese government said that Wang had warned Washington against making moves “by looking through tinted glasses and allowing ideological biases to cloud its eyes.”
He emphasised that bringing bilateral relations back on “the track of stable development” serves the interests of both sides, as well as “the common expectations of the international community.” “The United States should stop containing and suppressing China and refrain from creating new obstacles for bilateral relations,” he stressed.
In my call with PRC Foreign Minister Wang Yi, we spoke about our efforts to responsibly manage the competition between our two countries, Russia’s war against Ukraine, and support for Haiti.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) October 31, 2022
Wang condemned the US’ recent economic measures, which he said violate international trade rules. “The United States has adopted new export control regulations against China and restricted its investment in China, seriously violating free trade rules and gravely undermining China’s legitimate rights and interests,” he argued. To this end, he called on Washington to “correct those practices.”
The FM further advised the US to “carefully study” the recently-released report of the 20th CPC National Congress “if it really wants to understand China,” adding that Beijing’s domestic and foreign policies are “open and transparent” and its strategic intentions are “open and aboveboard.”
China will continue to open up to the world, advance the overall human progress through Chinese modernization and create new opportunities for the world with China’s new development.
— Hua Chunying 华春莹 (@SpokespersonCHN) November 1, 2022
“The important message sent by the congress is that China will stick to the foreign policy objectives of maintaining world peace and promoting common development, (and) continue to pursue the fundamental national policy of opening up,” he said. Wang added that China’s new developments will “bring new opportunities to the world,” which he said is “the greatest stability China offers to the turbulent international situation.”
Meanwhile, according to a press release put out by State Department spokesperson Ned Price, Blinken stressed on the need “to maintain open lines of communication” and “responsibly manage” their relationship.
Wang Yi urges US not to be 'blinded by ideology' in phone call with Blinken. pic.twitter.com/O44GG4sUj4
— Zhang Heqing张和清 (@zhang_heqing) October 31, 2022
Commenting on Wang’s statement about containing China, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said during a press conference on Monday: “We don’t seek to contain China. Our goal is not to hold China back.” “Our goal is to uphold the rules-based international order that has helped to manage, constructively and effectively, relations between states for the better part of 80 years. Any notion that our policy is directed against China or any other country around the world is not true,” he clarified.
He noted that while the two countries share a “relationship that is predicated at its core by competition” and have a number of “profound disagreements,” they must seek to resolve the “adversarial” elements of this competition and take advantage of the “cooperative elements” of it at the same time by looking for shared interests.
Price noted that the pair had spoken about various issues during their 70-minute phone call, including the Russia-Ukraine war, the security situation in Haiti, and North Korea.
While there has been speculation that US President Joe Biden will meet with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, there has been no confirmation of this. During their last meeting in November last year, Biden emphasised on the need for “simple, straightforward competition” between the two superpowers. Meanwhile, Xi stressed that “a sound and steady” bilateral relationship was required for advancing their respective development and “for safeguarding a peaceful and stable international environment.”
US-China ties took a significant hit in August after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, following which China undertook a number of aggressive military manoeuvres and suspended various avenues of cooperation with the US and repeatedly warned of firm countermeasures.