Tackling Blinken's speech, Wang Yi takes aim at outdated vision of world

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Saturday slammed a speech by the United States' top diplomat on the White House's China policy. The US' views on the world, China and China-US relations are seriously miscalibrated, Wang said.

In the speech on Thursday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken described China as "the most serious long-term challenge to the international order" and said that Washington would compete with Beijing with "increased investments at home and greater alignment with allies and partners".

In response, Wang said the world is not the one the US depicts. He said Washington has, in effect, become a source of instability undermining the international order and an obstacle to promoting greater democracy in international relations.

The most pressing task facing the international community is to safeguard the lives and health of people, advance the global economic recovery and uphold world peace and tranquility, Wang said.

That task requires a sense of a community with a shared future, together with real efforts to put the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter into practice, he added.

In contrast, Washington is sticking with centrism and the country's own sense of its exceptionalism, along with a Cold War mentality, hegemonic logic and the pursuit of bloc politics. This attitude, Wang said, will only lead to "conflict, confrontation and division in the international community".

"China is not the country visualized by the US," said Wang, adding that the country's modernization drive to benefit its 1.4 billion people marks out "tremendous progress" for humanity, and is not a "threat or challenge" to the world.

He reaffirmed that China's goal is to deliver a better life for people and make greater contributions to the world, not to "replace or challenge anyone else".

"The China-US relationship is not the zero-sum game designed by the US", said Wang, who called for Washington to focus on the three principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation.

Wang stressed that competition between China and the US should not be vicious. "China stands ready for fair competition on who can run the country better and who can contribute more to the world," he said.

He vowed that China would never yield to blackmail or coercion, and would steadfastly safeguard its sovereignty, security and development interests.

Chen Xulong, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics' School of International Relations in Beijing, said Wang's response to Blinken's speech systematically exposes the US' flawed and problematic views, and shows how China is on the right side of history.

The US' approach to China is like "old wine in new bottle" and the US, in essence, regards China as a major strategic competitor that it must contain, he said.

Ideological bias

Diao Daming, an associate professor of US studies at Renmin University of China in Beijing, said the US' view on competition is totally wrong, as it is burdened with ideological bias based on small cliques and a Cold War mentality.

The US should pursue healthy competition and shared development with China to contribute more to peace, stability and prosperity in the world, he said.

Whether China and the US can better handle their relations has a bearing on the future of the world, said Diao, noting that China's requirement that the US correct its mistakes, to steer bilateral ties back on the right track, demonstrates China's responsible attitude.

zhaojia@chinadaily.com.cn