Beijing envoy says Washington must decide if it is ready to accept rise of China
- Ambassador Cui Tiankai tells CNN his country has ‘legitimate right’ to modernise in wide-ranging interview
- Hong Kong national security law, South China Sea claims and US sanctions over Xinjiang also raised
Beijing’s top envoy to the US has urged Washington to decide whether it is ready to accept the rise of China, amid ever-heightening tensions between the strategic rivals.
Cui Tiankai told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria in an interview on Sunday that China had the “legitimate right” to modernise into a “strong, prosperous country”, pushing back against the growing consensus in Washington for a more hardline approach to an increasingly assertive Beijing.
“The fundamental question for the United States is very simple: is the United States ready or willing to live with another country with very different culture, very different political and economic system?” said Cui, who has been the Chinese ambassador to Washington since 2013.
“Whether the United States is ready to live with it in peace, and cooperate on so many and still growing global challenges? I think this is a real choice – this is a fundamental choice people have to make.”