China’s economic rise ‘no threat’ to US, says ambassador

Beijing’s Washington envoy Qin Gang tells US-China Policy Foundation the two countries should seek consensus to get relations back on track

Chinese goal is to meet people’s aspiration for a better life, not to enter a win-lose competition with any country, he tells virtual event

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China’s ambassador to the United States Qin Gang called on attendees of a virtual event in Washington to find ways to get the relationship back on track. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 11:37am, 22 Dec 2021Updated: 3:09pm, 22 Dec 2021

Beijing’s envoy to the United States on Tuesday maintained that China’s economic rise did not constitute a threat to the US, urging the two countries to seek consensus and get strained relations back on track.

“China’s development [goal] is to meet the people’s aspiration for a better life, not to enter into a win-lose competition with any country,” Qin Gang said at a virtual event hosted by the US-China Policy Foundation (USCPF), the Washington-based group dedicated to improving US-China relations.

“In fact, China’s sustained and stable development is not a threat to the United States,” said Qin, who took up his Washington post in July. “It is a major opportunity, and a benefit.”

Qin’s appeal to his US counterparts comes as relations between Washington and Beijing remain at historic lows, even as the two capitals have found common ground on some issues like climate change.

A sanctioning blitz in recent weeks has seen the US blacklist Chinese officials and tech companies over Beijing’s treatment of ethnic minority groups in the Xinjiang region, and sanction officials for undermining democratic freedoms in Hong Kong.

Beijing responded on Tuesday, announcing sanctions against four members of a US governmental religious freedom commission, banning them from entering China and prohibiting them from doing business with entities there.