China’s message to the US: don’t ‘create new opponents’ or ‘bully’ Chinese citizens
- Beijing won’t ‘sit idly by and ignore any bullying that violates the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese’ but Foreign Minister Wang Yi does not directly refer to case of detained Huawei executive
Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday called on the United States not to “create new opponents” and warned it against “bullying” Chinese citizens.
Wang made the remarks in a speech at the annual Symposium on International Developments and China’s Diplomacy, hosted by a government think tank and its foundation in Beijing.
It came after the world’s two biggest economies agreed to a 90-day truce in their trade war, and following the arrest of Huawei Technologies chief financial officer Sabrina Meng Wanzhou in Canada on December 1. The US is seeking Meng’s extradition on multiple fraud charges.
“The US should abandon its zero-sum game mindset, take a positive view of China’s development and continuously expand the mutually beneficial space and prospects,” Wang said.
“There is no need to artificially create new opponents, but there is a great need to avoid self-fulfilling prophecies,” he added.
Wang said the ups and downs over the two countries’ 40 years of bilateral relations offered plenty of lessons – in particular that cooperation benefits both the US and China, while confrontation hurts both sides.