China wants more stable relationship with US after signing phase one trade war deal, says Foreign Minister Wang Yi
- Minister tells Lunar New Year reception that agreement between world’s two biggest economies benefits both Chinese and American people
- Wang says their relationship ‘will have a profound impact of the direction of the world’ and disagreements will prove harmful to both
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has said that Beijing wishes to build more stable ties with Washington following the signing of the phase one trade deal.
Yi made the remarks during a speech on Monday at a Lunar New Year reception hosting more than 400 foreign and Chinese diplomats.
Wang said the deal “benefits the two countries and their people” and that the news has been welcomed by the international community.
“As the largest developing and developed country, respectively, our bilateral relations will have a profound impact on the direction of the world. The past 40 years of Sino-US relations shows that cooperation between the two countries will benefit each other, while fighting will cause harm both,” Wang told the gathering.
“We are willing to work with the US side … to build cooperative and stable US-China relations on the basis on mutual respect and equal dialogue and to properly manage our differences.”
Under the terms of last week’s deal, signed by US President Donald Trump and the chief Chinese negotiator, Liu He, China has promised to buy an additional US$200 billion in goods and services from the US, compared with the 2017 total of US$188 billion, over the next two years.
Wang also said China would play a more active role on the world stage. “A China that adheres to its socialist path with Chinese characteristics as well as the concept of win-win cooperation will play a more important role as a stabilising force in an uncertain world,” Wang said.
How the phase one US-China trade deal moves the world closer to a G2 global order
The Chinese diplomat also told his foreign counterparts that China’s determination to reunite with Taiwan remained unshaken.
“The one-China principle has become a consensus among the international community and a well-regarded rule in conducting international relations,” Wang said.
“Regardless of the changes within Taiwan island, Taiwan is an inalienable part of China … The determination and confidence of the Chinese government and its people will not be shaken.”
China sees the self-ruled island as part of its territory that must be reunified, by force if necessary.
Earlier this month, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party won a landslide victory in an election, riding on a wave of scepticism about Beijing’s intentions towards the island.
US-China tech war to be ‘defining issue of this century’
In the speech, Wang said sovereignty was the “greatest cornerstone” of the international system, and warned against “foreign interference” in China’s affairs without mentioning a particular adversary.
“Faced with the spread of various forms of power politics, interventionism, and bullying, the international community should resist them together,” Wang said.
“We will resolutely and necessarily counter-attack plots by external forces interfering in China’s internal affairs,” he said.
Additional reporting by Keegan Elmer
