Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi didn’t mince his words in discussing the present state of U.S.-China relations in a phone conversation with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian today. Wang Yi said that at present, Sino-U.S. relations have caused widespread concern in the international community. The fundamental reason is that some domestic political forces in the United States, out of political considerations to promote elections and the need to maintain unipolar hegemony, will not hesitate to completely deny the history of Sino-U.S. relations. They unreasonably suppress China in all directions, constantly provoke China’s core interests, attack the social system chosen by the Chinese people, and slander the ruling party that is closely connected with the Chinese people. These actions have lost the most basic etiquette for state-to-state exchanges and have broken through the most basic bottom line of international norms. They are naked power politics. If it comes down to one word, it is “hegemony."c
Wang Yi said that what calls forth vigilance is the fact that U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo delivered a speech a few days ago in an attempt to rekindle ideological opposition and lead the world into a new Cold War. The world seems to have seen the attempt to give McCarthyism a comeback, which had been swept into the garbage dump of history. If this conspiracy theory is allowed to succeed, not only will Sino-U.S. relations fall into the abyss of confrontation, the world will fall into a crisis of division, and the future and destiny of mankind will also be in danger.
China would react to these developments on different levels, he said. “First of all, China will resolutely counteract bad practices that infringe on China’s legitimate rights and interests. China will never take the initiative to provoke incidents and always exercise maximum restraint.” Secondly, China and the United States should communicate rationally. We will never allow a small number of anti-China elements to subvert the successful accumulation of Sino-U.S. exchanges and cooperation for decades, nor will we allow ideological prejudice to undermine the future development of Sino-U.S. relations.” And thirdly, “the international community should jointly maintain unity and cooperation. We believe that all countries can make correct and wise judgments, avoid being trapped by a few political forces in the United States, and jointly prevent the world from being dragged into a new cold war of conflict and confrontation, and jointly prevent the process of globalization from being brutally interrupted. Indulging bullying will not guarantee your own safety, but by giving the bully an inch, he will take a mile. All countries should act to resist any unilateral and forceful acts and defend the overall situation of world peace and development.”
