China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi tells US not to follow ‘misguided’ Trump policies

Name: China and the US ‘need cooperation, not fighting’, says Beijing’s envoy to Washington
Uploaded: 2021-02-02T04:53:55.000Z
Duration: 1 min 6 s
Description: China and the US ‘need cooperation, not fighting’, says Beijing’s envoy to Washington

Foreign policy chief says relationship should not be adversarial, in highest-ranking remarks since Joe Biden’s inauguration

But signals from Washington suggest relations will continue along similar path with tactical changes

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Head of the Chinese Communist Party’s foreign affairs office and Politburo member Yang Jiechi is the highest-ranking official to comment on US-China relations since President Joe Biden’s inauguration. Photo: AFP

Sarah Zheng

Published: 12:53pm, 2 Feb 2021Updated: 12:16am, 3 Feb 2021

China’s most senior foreign policy official Yang Jiechi said the US under Donald Trump had followed “misguided policies”, and called on the new administration to change course – even as comments from President Joe Biden’s advisers echo his predecessor’s tough tone on China.

“For the past few years, the Trump administration adopted misguided policies against China, plunging the relationship into its most difficult period since the establishment of diplomatic ties,” said Yang, a Politburo member regarded as President Xi Jinping’s most trusted foreign policy aide.

The US had an outdated mentality “of zero-sum, major-power rivalry” and needed to change to get the relationship back on track, Yang said.

His comments largely echoed appeals last week from China’s ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai and foreign vice-minister Le Yucheng for the US to stop perceiving China as its enemy. But critics say the calls amount to empty rhetoric, with Beijing taking an increasingly aggressive approach across multiple fronts, including trade, technology, global and regional influence, and ideology.

Yang, who was speaking at a virtual event hosted by the National Committee on US-China Relations, is the highest-ranking official so far to comment on the bilateral relationship since Biden’s inauguration nearly two weeks ago. As a Politburo member, Yang outranks Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Committee members include former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger and former US treasury secretary Jacob Lew.

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China and the US ‘need cooperation, not fighting’, says Beijing’s envoy to Washington

While Beijing has been keen for a reset in ties, Biden’s team has signalled that China will be a central theme in its foreign policy, with political consensus in Washington remaining against a return to pre-Trump relations.