Beijing warns US risks disaster if Biden team continues ‘wrong China policies’ of Trump
- Chinese foreign minister tells US deputy secretary of state Taiwan is China’s most important issue among sovereign affairs and the US should act cautiously
- Wendy Sherman presses for the release of some Americans and Canadians detained in China, saying ‘people are not bargaining chips’
“The new US government has continued the extreme and wrong China policies of the previous administration, repeatedly challenging China’s bottom line and intensifying suppression on China. China resolutely opposes that,” Wang was quoted by the Chinese foreign ministry in a statement on Monday.
Failure to manage China-US relations would be a “big disaster”, Wang said, adding that the US “should establish an objective and correct understanding of China … and return to a pragmatic China policy”.
Wang made three core demands of the US, saying that it must not challenge or seek to subvert China’s model of governance as it was related to the fate of 1.4 billion Chinese people.
Taiwan was the most important issue when it came to sovereign affairs, Wang said.
“If there were provocation from Taiwan independence forces, China has the right to take any necessary measures to stop it. We call on the US to abide by its promises on the Taiwan issue and act cautiously,” he said.
“China’s development is not to challenge the United States, nor is it to replace the United States. We have never been interested in betting on America’s win or loss, and China’s development is not based on the premise of America’s decline,” he said.
“We never export ideologies and development models to other nations. All countries should independently explore development paths that suit their national conditions.”
Despite the tense exchanges, Wang said Sherman’s trip could aid mutual understanding between China and the US and cut the risk of misjudgment.
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“There are some things that rise above specific differences that are the global responsibility of great powers,” Sherman said in an interview with Associated Press.
Sherman, who was sworn in in April, described the meetings as another step in the process of trying to work through critical issues with China.
“We will see whether, in fact, there’s follow-up and we are able to move another step,” she said. “There’s no way to know in the early stages of building this relationship whether we will get to all the places that we hoped for.”
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Sherman also pressed for the release of some Americans and Canadians detained in China, saying “people are not bargaining chips”, and raised concern about pressure on foreign journalists in China. China has tried two Canadians on national security charges in apparent retaliation for Canada’s arrest of Huawei financial chief Meng Wanzhou who was wanted in the US.