Don’t try to change China’s system, former official warns US

The future of ties between the two countries rests on the ability of each to take the concerns of the other seriously, Fu Ying says

Warning follows Mike Pompeo’s contention that Taiwan ‘has not been part of China’

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China has no intention of replacing the US role in the world, a former Chinese vice foreign minister says. Photo: Shutterstock

Guo Ruiin Guangzhou

Published: 7:00am, 15 Nov 2020Updated: 9:46am, 15 Nov 2020

A former senior Chinese diplomat has urged the United States not to try to change China’s political system, warning of a “historic tragedy” if the two countries slid into conflict.

“China has no intention of replacing the US role in the world, nor does it believe that the US has the ability to change the Chinese system,” former vice foreign minister Fu Ying told an online meeting on Friday organised by the State Council’s China Development Forum.

Accusing the US of interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, Fu, now head of the Centre for International Strategy and Security at Tsinghua University, said the possibility of stable but competitive relations between the two countries depended on whether each party’s concerns were taken seriously.

“In recent years, Americans have begun to worry about other countries interfering in the US presidential election, so can they understand why other countries are so sensitive to US finger-pointing?” she said at the event attended by officials and business leaders.

Fu’s warning came a day after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Taiwan “has not been a part of China”.

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