Chinese foreign minister says countries should not be forced to pick sides in rivalry with US

Wang Yi tells a conference competition between nations should be ‘positive and benign’ rather than a ‘zero-sum game’

China has a range of territorial disputes with neighbouring countries, but Wang says it is willing to manage its differences

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Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China and the US are two giant ships that must not collide. Photo: Handout

Published: 7:00am, 22 Nov 2021Updated: 3:35pm, 22 Nov 2021

Third parties should not be forced to choose sides in a great power competition, the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Saturday.

He compared China and the United States to two giant ships and said they must not collide with each other, repeating a phrase used by Xi Jinping in his virtual summit with Joe Biden last week.

“Instead of a vicious competition of decoupling and breaking ties at will, let alone forcing third parties to choose sides, competition should be positive and benign, based on the principle of mutual benefit and win-win results,” Wang told an online conference.

He said the “world’s future and destiny” depended on Washington and Beijing managing their relationship properly, adding “any zero-sum game will only end up hurting us both.”

At the conference hosted by the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia, a think tank, Wang also said that China is willing to manage its differences with other countries, especially its territorial disputes.

China has disputes with four members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations over the resource-rich South China Sea.

Many Asean nations have also expressed concern over being forced to take sides in the competition between China and the US, which is centred on the Indo-Pacific.