US’ China strategy has no bottom line, Beijing’s former Washington envoy says

United States will ‘spare no effort, even without a bottom line, to suppress, contain, divide and besiege China’, Cui Tiankai tells seminar
The former ambassador warns against ‘carelessness, slackness and incompetence’ in China’s response

US-China relations

Laura Zhou

Published: 11:00pm, 21 Dec 2021

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Beijing must prepare well for a roller-coaster ride in relations with the US because Washington’s containment strategy towards China has no bottom line, the former Chinese envoy to Washington said.

Speaking at a conference in Beijing, Cui Tiankai, the country’s longest-serving ambassador to the United States, warned against any “carelessness, slackness and incompetence” in China’s dealing with the US.

“Every bit of the people’s interest is hard-earned and we must not allow anyone to plunder it or make it suffer through our own carelessness, slackness and incompetence,” Cui told Chinese diplomats and academics at an annual seminar hosted by the China Institute of International Studies at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on Monday.

Footage of the event was posted by Yuyuan Tantian, a social media account affiliated with state broadcaster CCTV.

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US sanctions DJI and 7 other Chinese companies over alleged Xinjiang human rights abuses

Tensions between the two powers continue to grow despite last month’s first virtual summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US counterpart Joe Biden, during which they agreed to try to avoid conflict.

Days after the leaders’ dialogue, the White House announced that it would not send any diplomatic or official representatives to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. Australia, Britain and Canada have since also decided on diplomatic boycotts of the Games, for which the Chinese government has vowed to retaliate.

Cui, who was China’s top envoy in the US from 2013 until stepping down in June, said Sino-US relations were unlikely to improve in the near future.

“The current stage of history in US-China relations will continue for quite some time, and the US will not willingly accept the rise of a power with a very different social system, ideology, cultural traditions and even ethnicity,” Cui said, adding that there had been “a very strong element of racism” in Washington’s China policy.

“The US will inevitably try every possible means and spare no effort, even without a bottom line, to suppress, contain, divide and besiege China,” he said.

At the same event, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China welcomed mutually beneficial cooperation and healthy competition with the US but was not afraid of confrontation.

Outlining China’s diplomacy priorities for the next year, Wang said the two countries should work together to improve their relations in 2022, which marks 50 years since former US president Richard Nixon’s historic visit to Beijing that paved the way for normalising relations between China and the US in 1979.

Feuds between the two powers continue to deepen. The Chinese government has repeatedly condemned the Aukus security pact – announced in September by Australia, the UK and the US – describing it as part of the US’ containment strategy against China and saying it would hamper regional peace and stability.

On Monday, the US named undersecretary of state Uzra Zeya as special coordinator for Tibet. She is expected to “lead US efforts to preserve the religious, cultural and linguistic heritage of Tibetans, who are facing human rights abuses and challenges to their livelihoods and environment”, Secretary of State Antony Blinken tweeted.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian later described the move as amounting to interference with China’s domestic affairs.

And on Tuesday, the Chinese government announced sanctions against four members of a US government commission that monitors religious freedom internationally.

The chairwoman, vice-chairman and two further members of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom were named as the targeted individuals. Zhao said that they would be banned from entering mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau or doing business with Chinese companies, in retaliation for the latest US sanctions against Chinese officials and entities over alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang.

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