China’s foreign minister calls on other nations to resist taking sides with US and to prevent a new cold war

In a phone call with his French counterpart, Wang Yi said Beijing was striving to keep relations with the US stable

He cites the Vienna Convention while addressing dramatic consulate closures in Houston and Chengdu

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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian in Beijing last year. Wang on Tuesday implored France and other countries not to side with the US as relations with Washington grow increasingly hostile. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 8:00pm, 29 Jul 2020Updated: 11:29pm, 29 Jul 2020

China’s foreign minister called on all countries to “resist” the United States’ “blatant and unreasonable acts” and to help prevent the world’s two greatest powers descending into what he called a new cold war.

In a phone call with his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian on Tuesday, Wang Yi said Beijing would make “firm and rational responses” amid the intensifying rivalry with the US, but also stressed that his country would strive to maintain stable relations with Washington.

It was the fourth time in less than two weeks that Wang, who is also a state councillor, has named the US in conversations with foreign officials, following calls with his Russian, Vietnamese and German counterparts. Before that, veiled attacks against Washington might have been made in talks with foreign governments, but the country at the heart of discussions would not have been named.

The change in rhetoric and the increased frequency of verbal aggression by both sides has meant a rapid deterioration of China-US relations, and an imperative for Beijing to ensure other nations do not side with Washington.

“Tolerating a bully will not keep you safe. It will only let the bully get bolder and act worse. All countries should act to resist any unilateral or hegemonic act and safeguard world peace and development,” Wang was quoted as saying in a Chinese foreign ministry statement.

Wang said the current decline in China-US relations was caused by a “certain political faction in the US, driven by the need to lift campaign prospects and maintain unipolar hegemony”, the statement said.

During the phone call, Wang called for “vigilance against US Secretary of State [Mike] Pompeo’s recent remarks instigating renewed ideological confrontation and leading the world to a new cold war”.