China criticizes U.S. for promoting partnership with Russia while suppressing its rise

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday criticized the United States for trying to suppress China’s rise through sanctions and reiterated Beijing’s commitment to working with partners such as Russia to uphold a multipolar world order.

Wang Yi, speaking to domestic and foreign media on the sidelines of China’s annual rubber-stamp National People’s Congress, said that while Sino-U.S. relations have improved since the summit between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping last November, Washington’s misunderstandings about China still persist. Tough but failed to fulfill the promises made during the summit.

“The United States continues to update its methods of suppressing China while expanding its sanctions list,” he said, adding that Washington’s desire to punish Beijing had reached “unimaginable levels.”

Wang Yi questioned Washington’s credibility as a major power, urging the United States to view China’s rise and development objectively and handle its interactions with Beijing rationally.

“We urge the United States to recognize the general trend of historical development and fulfill its commitments.”

Some analysts said Wang Yi’s criticism of the United States reflected Beijing’s concerns that Washington and its allies are facing technological bottlenecks and economic containment.

“Beijing hopes to push the United States to make further concessions and demand that the United States lower its restrictions on de-risking Chinese technology,” Wendi Song, a political scientist at the Australian National University, told VOA in a written response.

Wang Yi urged the United States to work with China to jointly promote the healthy and stable development of bilateral relations. At the same time, he praised the close partnership between China and Russia, saying that the two countries continue to deepen political mutual trust in mutually beneficial cooperation.

As major powers in the world and permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, China and Russia adhere to permanent good-neighborly friendship, deepen comprehensive strategic cooperation, and create a new type of major-country relations on the basis of non-alignment, non-confrontation, and non-targeting of third parties. ,” Wang said.

Some experts say China’s efforts to strengthen its “infinite partnership” with Russia are mainly because it is trying to build an alliance that can withstand U.S. pressure.

“Because Russia is anti-American, China needs an ally to help it resist pressure from Washington,” Liu Dongshu, an expert on Chinese politics at City University of Hong Kong, told VOA by phone.

Because China had emphasized the importance of its partnership with Russia before the war in Ukraine, Liu said China may feel the need to uphold that commitment.

“It is difficult for Beijing to admit that it is wrong to be too supportive of Russia, so to save its face, China needs to insist that there is nothing wrong with maintaining its partnership with Russia,” he added.

As wars in Ukraine and the Middle East continue, Wang Yi, a 70-year-old veteran diplomat who returned to his post as foreign minister last year after the mysterious dismissal of former Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, said China was actively making suggestions to resolve regional and global issues.

He said the only way to end the vicious cycle caused by the conflict between Israel and Hamas was “the full implementation of the two-state solution” and expressed Beijing’s support for Palestinian UN membership.

Regarding the war in Ukraine, Wang Yi said that China has always “maintained an objective and fair position” and reiterated Beijing’s support for the convening of an international peace conference recognized by both Russia and Ukraine.

Liu He said in Hong Kong that China faces a dilemma: It wants to show itself internationally as a responsible power but does not want to take action to resolve ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine.

“Unlike the United States, which has extensive experience in mediating global conflicts, China has long had this hands-off approach,” he told VOA. “China is unwilling to take action to intervene in these conflicts and may not have the ability to do so. .”

As tensions have escalated in the Taiwan Strait in recent weeks, with Chinese coast guard ships stepping up patrols in disputed waters near Taiwan’s outlying islands, Wang said Beijing would never allow Taiwan to “separate from the motherland” and warned countries around the world not to do so. Do support Taiwan’s potential pursuit of independence.

In the 1990s, he warned: “Whoever pursues ‘Taiwan independence’ on the island will be held accountable by history; whoever supports ‘Taiwan independence’ around the world will play with fire and suffer the consequences.”

Professor Song from the Australian National University said Wang Yi’s remarks on Taiwan were intended to increase pressure on Taiwan’s diplomatic partners and ensure that Taiwan remained internationally isolated. He told VOA that Wang was trying to “warn other countries about the consequences of supporting Taiwan while reaffirming Beijing’s ultimate goal of reunification.”

Wang Yi said China has always maintained a “high degree of restraint” in handling maritime disputes as tensions between China and the Philippines have intensified as Chinese and Philippine ships have repeatedly clashed in the disputed South China Sea.

“China always respects historical and legal facts and seeks solutions acceptable to all parties,” he said, adding that Beijing would not allow its “good intentions” to be abused or the law of the sea to be “distorted.”

After Wang Yi set the tone for China’s foreign policy in 2024 with Thursday’s press conference, some analysts believe Beijing may take a multi-pronged approach to managing relations with different countries.

“China will focus on managing its relationship with Europe, maintaining close ties with Russia and other pariah states, increasing tensions with Taiwan, India and the South China Sea, and cautiously testing relations with the United States, while seeking to curry favor with the global South,” Sanaa said. country,” Hashmi, a postdoctoral researcher at the Asia Exchange Foundation in Taiwan, told VOA in a written reply.