China's FM Wang Yi: US should avoid conflict and opt for win-win cooperation

Beijing
Mon, 08 Oct 2018 14:12 UTC

© The Tribune

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi

China calls on the United States to avoid pushing for conflicts in trade and politics and demands that Washington immediately cease erroneous statements and actions against Beijing, Chinese Foreign Minister said Monday.

"The US has also taken a series of actions regarding Taiwan and other matters and leveled groundless accusations against China's domestic and foreign policy. We urge the US to immediately stop its misguided comments and actions. China and the US should stick to the right path of win-win cooperation and avoid straying into conflict and confrontation,"

China's foreign minister Wang Yi said at a meeting with US State Secretary Mike Pompeo in Beijing.

According to the minister, US actions have hurt the mutual trust of the two countries, cast a shadow on the prospects for China-US relations, and run counter to the interests of the peoples of the two countries. China and the United States should follow the right path of cooperation for mutual benefit, Wang added.

The Chinese foreign minister's statement comes following earlier reports published last month noting that the US-China trade war took a new turn and extended to the security sector after Trump sanctioned a key Chinese military unit for buying Russian weapons and accused Beijing of meddling in the upcoming US midterm elections.

Over the past several months, relations between Washington and Beijing have sharply deteriorated over trade disagreements. In September, the United States imposed a new round of tariffs on Chinese goods and retaliatory restrictions on US imports to China. This happened amid the further escalating trade dispute which the parties have so far failed to resolve, despite holding numerous consultations.

Comment: More from Xinhuanet and Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang:

As for the claim from the U.S. side that China's ratcheting up of tariff levies was aimed at influencing its mid-term elections, Lu said that the move was forced to be made as a righteous defense needed to protect China against Sino-U.S. trade frictions, a result of U.S. unilateralism.

"There is no winner in fighting a trade war," Lu said, adding that as the United States increases tariffs on more exports from China, more American industries and localities will be inevitably impacted by China's retaliatory measures. "This has nothing to do at all with which political parties they back."

In response to the claim that Chinese media outlet intended on "meddling in" U.S. internal affairs by buying space in its local newspapers, Lu said that the move was normal business cooperation and doesn't violate U.S. laws and regulations.

Lu told the news briefing that it is utterly "groundless and farfetched" to interpret such cooperation as "attempts to meddle in U.S. elections," to the point that many members of various sectors in American society, including media, tend to regard such allegations as ridiculous or absurd.

"The international community is clear about which country interferes the most in other countries' internal affairs," Lu said.