Beijing urges Washington to stop 'demonising' China as US official visits
By: Agence France-Presse
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Beijing urges Washington to stop 'demonising' China as US official visits
Beijing urged Washington to stop "demonizing" China on July 26 as rancour marked the start of talks with the highest-level U.S. envoy to visit under President Joe Biden's administration.
Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman 's visit to the northern city of Tianjin is the first major meeting between the world's leading economies since March discussions in Anchorage between the countries' top diplomats collapsed into mudslinging.
Sherman's trip aims to seek "guardrails" as ties continue to deteriorate on a range of issues from cybersecurity and tech supremacy to human rights in Hong Kong and Xinjiang.
"The hope may be that by demonizing China, the U.S. could somehow... blame China for its own structural problems," Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng told Sherman, in a readout issued by China's foreign ministry early on July 26.
"We urge the United States to change its highly misguided mindset and dangerous policy," the statement quoted Xie as saying, adding that Washington views China as an "imagined enemy".
Xie also described relations as at a "stalemate" and facing "serious difficulties".
He claimed that Chinese people view the United States' "adversarial rhetoric as a thinly veiled attempt to contain and suppress China", in comments reminiscent of the fiery exchange between Washington and Beijing's top diplomats Antony Blinken and Yang Jiechi in Alaska.
Sherman will also meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi .
She tweeted on July 25 that she had spoken with U.S. businesses about "the challenges they're facing in China", and also sent her "heartfelt condolences" to flood victims in Henan province.
The United States said last week it was hoping to use the "candid" talks as an opportunity to show Beijing "what responsible and healthy competition looks like", but wanted to avoid the relationship veering into conflict.
The July 25-26 trip is shorn of the trappings of a full-fledged official visit. Sherman will not go to Beijing, but instead spend two days starting Sunday in Tianjin, a northeastern port city.
The visit is widely viewed as a preparatory step for an eventual meeting between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, as U.S.-China ties continue their freefall with little sign of improvement.
A day prior to Sherman landing in China, Foreign Minister Wang Yi vowed to "teach the U.S. a lesson" in treating other countries equally, foreshadowing a rocky start to talks.
"China will not accept any country's self-proclaimed superiority," he was quoted as saying in a foreign ministry statement Saturday.
John Kerry, the former secretary of state turned U.S. climate envoy, is the only other senior official from the Biden administration to have visited China.
The two sides pledged to cooperate on climate change, despite their numerous differences.
Biden has largely kept the hawkish stance on China of his predecessor Donald Trump as Washington has sought to build a united front of democratic allies against Beijing.
Last week, China and the United States traded sanctions over Beijing's repression of freedoms in Hong Kong, in the latest round of an ongoing tit-for-tat saga that has targeted individuals including former U.S. commerce secretary Wilbur Ross .
Washington last week issued an advisory warning to businesses operating in Hong Kong over the city's deteriorating autonomy.
The United States also rallied allies including NATO for a rare joint condemnation last week of alleged large-scale cyberattacks from China.
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I am particularly amused by the fact that other than the Bing and Yahoo news roundups this story was NOT told by ANY mainstream American media, probably because THE TRUTH HURTS, and is contrary to American policy. There is at least one member on this site who makes a big noise about China being America's number one enemy. What surprises me is how far America goes to alienate the biggest purchaser of American goods outside of its two neighbours.
What is the truth that hurts?
Is it ok for the Biden administration to ask the following?:
Are large-scale cyberattacks coming from China?
Is there any truth to China violating the agreement on Hong Kong?
Is there any truth to China allowing the pandemic to infect the world?
There is at least one member on this site who makes a big noise about China being America's number one enemy.
Is it?
What surprises me is how far America goes to alienate the biggest purchaser of American goods outside of its two neighbours.
I don't think the CCP feels alienated. I think they are about to make a point.
Although you directed your questions to me, I don't intend to answer them because even if I attempt to be neutral, because I don't toe the "What's good for America is good for the world" line, I'm going to be labelled by members here as a shill for Xi Jinping, which I am not. There are a few members on this site who are capable of determining and comprehending "THE REST OF THE STORY". (R.I.P. Paul Harvey)
I wouldn't expect you to. Every nation operates in their own best interests. If I'm Chinese I'm satisfied with how far China has gone. If I'm American I'm not happy about the cost of globalization.
And if I'm Canadian....I'm cognizant of both sides of the story.
For all of the so-called decoupling with China and the rhetoric, we imported $38 billion in the month May from China. Seems that American business and the American public are paying a lot of attention to this.
should read ''are not paying a lot of attention to this''.
That's the media and the general public but not the politicians and their spokespersons on social news sites like this one.
If one wants to know what the CCP actually wants, which isn't conveyed by their ridiculous rhetoric, just look at their ridiculous 9 dash line in the South China Sea. It tells you everything you need to know about how they view the rest of the world.
I have no idea what the CCP actually wants other than to create a better life for its citizens, as exemplified by its success in eradicating abject poverty, but I'll leave it up to those like yourself who have the inside knowledge of what the CCP actually wants.
Thank you. I appreciate it.