Top Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi has accused some in Western countries of using the pandemic to smear China’s social policies, in a commentary published in Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily on Monday. He also said Beijing would firmly respond to any “plans or deeds by the United States to suppress China”, as part of efforts to prepare for a smooth party congress later this year. President Xi Jinping is expected to secure a third term as party leader at the twice-a-decade event, which would make him the first to do so since the death of Mao Zedong in 1976. Yang labelled the party congress as the core of diplomatic work this year, signalling that Beijing’s tough pandemic strategy – including keeping most foreigners out of the country and sacrificing economic growth to keep Covid-19 at bay – could continue at least until later in the year. The remarks come as China has been at loggerheads with the US and other Western countries over issues ranging from pandemic management and human rights in Xinjiang to the Ukraine war , Taiwan policy and the Aukus security pact . “Some people in the West are using our pandemic control policies to criticise our country and attack our social system,” Yang said, using language that mirrored Xi’s at a May 5 meeting of the Politburo Standing Committee, China’s most powerful political body. “We should always keep a clear head and unwaveringly adhere to the main policy of ‘dynamic zero-Covid’ and struggle against speech and acts that distort, question or reject our epidemic control policy.” China is one of the few countries that still has a zero-Covid policy. It has imposed frequent testing and transport restrictions in Shanghai and Beijing, two of its most affluent and well-governed cities. A strict lockdown in Shanghai left residents disillusioned after they had to resort to bartering to resolve food shortages, resulting in demonstrations, and there have been complaints about difficulties accessing healthcare. But Yang said China’s Covid-19 measures were “solid and responsible” and had protected the lives of people and contributed to global health. “This is in stark contrast to the behaviour of some in the West that is reckless and distorts the truth.” Chinese web users told to report ‘historical nihilism’ against party line Zhang Baohui, a political science professor at Lingnan University in Hong Kong, said Beijing saw its pandemic management and governance as an achievement. “It’s become a soft power of China on the international stage. China believes that the achievement since 2020 is a result of its political system,” Zhang said. “And since soft power is also a part of the competition, China’s pandemic strategy has unavoidably become a diplomatic issue.” The country’s top diplomat also urged the US to manage well its differences with China and aim for peaceful coexistence. However, Yang said: “On hot issues such as the Ukraine crisis, the Korean peninsula, the Iranian nuclear issue and Afghanistan, we will adhere to our principles and positions, uphold fairness and justice, and play a constructive role.” Zhang said while such geopolitical issues could offer rare space for cooperation between China and the US, ties were unlikely to improve given their strategic rivalry. “Facing strategic competition from the US, China has tried to cooperate and in its official rhetoric it says the two countries cannot decouple since their cooperation is the basis of world peace,” he added. In the commentary, Yang also called for the party to align itself with Xi’s leadership, saying the president’s “astute decision-making” was responsible for the successes of Covid-19 control , the Beijing Winter Olympics and the “ two sessions ” political meetings held in March. A new generation of leaders, led by Xi, is expected to be unveiled at the party congress in autumn. But Yang, 72, is expected to retire from the Politburo after the congress. Yang was Chinese foreign minister from 2007 to 2013. In his time with the foreign ministry, he has held senior positions at China’s embassy in Washington, including ambassador from 2000 to 2004.