United States to remain world’s Number 1 power ‘for a fairly long time’: Beijing

The United States will remain the world’s leading power for a long time, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Friday, but he stressed global affairs should not be dominated by one country.

Wang made the remarks during an interview with the Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera, ahead of the seventh ministerial conference of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum in Doha last week, and the transcript of the interview was released on Thursday night.

When asked whether China, the world’s second largest economy, had prepared to replace a declining US as global leader, Wang replied “from what we know about the country, the US will probably remain the world’s No 1 for a fairly long time”.

But, he added: “This does not mean that the world can only be led by one country, which, in fact, is simply impossible.”

Wang criticised Washington’s role in the South China Sea, blaming it for raising tensions in the disputed waters. Relations in the region, especially between the US and China, have become strained, with Washington accusing Beijing of militarising the sea by creating artificial islands, some of them fortified.

China, US must manage risk of conflict in South China Sea constructively, says Beijing

Beijing, in turn, has criticised increased US naval patrols and exercises in its “pivot” to Asia.