Top China diplomat says Washington should respect Beijing and ‘avoid making misjudgments’

Politburo member Yang Jiechi says the countries should take opportunities to cooperate but blames US for damaging the relationship

Yang’s commentary follows Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s call for more dialogue and resetting the US-China framework

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Yang Jiechi, a Politburo member considered China’s top diplomat, has written a commentary that says Washington should respect Beijing’s “core interest” and “avoid making misjudgments”. Photo: Getty Images

Published: 6:30am, 8 Aug 2020Updated: 11:56pm, 8 Aug 2020

China’s top diplomats have appealed to the US – for the second time in a week – to repair the damaged China-US relationship, stressing that the disputes between the two nations can be managed and resolved.

Yang Jiechi, a member of the Communist Party Politburo and considered China’s leading diplomat, called on both China and the US to seize opportunities for cooperation but added that Washington should respect Beijing’s “core interest” and “avoid making misjudgments”.

Yang’s message – which came in a lengthy commentary published on Friday by the state-run Xinhua news agency – was released just two days after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in an interview with Xinhua, called for more dialogue and resetting the US-China framework.

Those relations are facing a heightened risk of disengagement following a series of tit-for-tat tough gestures on trade, technological, security and ideological fronts.

In his commentary Yang Jiechi noted that China and the US had “experienced ups and downs and turbulence” but had always been able to cope. Photo: Reuters

In his article, Yang detailed the history and friendship between the two nations since 1978, when diplomatic relations were formalised. He stressed that the countries have had many disputes over the past decades, but have always coped.