China’s foreign minister highlighted Beijing’s increasingly fiery stance on the international stage, taking multiple swipes at the US and underscoring much of the sentiment from President Xi Jinping’s speech at last week’s centenary.
To counter terrorism, North Korea and Taiwan on the Iran nuclear issue, Foreign Minister Wang Yi demonstrated China’s growing confidence and assertiveness in global affairs, while understanding the old Cold War mentality of the US and its allies. criticized for
“Today’s China is no longer the country it was 100 years ago,” Wang said in Beijing on Saturday. “No person or force should underestimate the determination and ability of the Chinese people to uphold the sovereignty, security and development interests of the country.”
“America’s unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA and its maximum pressure on Iran are the root causes of the current Iranian nuclear crisis,” Wang said.
Wang was speaking at the World Peace Forum organized by Tsinghua University and the Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs, a government-run policy group. Relations between Beijing and Washington have been tense under US President Joe Biden, despite some hopes they will improve once Donald Trump leaves office. Biden has been slow to remove tariffs imposed by Trump on Chinese goods as the administration evaluates a new set of policies.
On Thursday, Chinese President Xi Jinping warned the country’s opponents to avoid opposing his government, saying in a speech marking the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party that China could no longer be “intimidated and abused”. . Anyone trying to do so would “certainly break their head on the Great Wall of Steel made of the blood and flesh of 1.4 billion Chinese people,” he said.
Back in March the first face-to-face talks between China and the US descended into a dispute between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Yang Jiechi, a member of the ruling Communist Party’s Politburo.
Washington and Beijing were reportedly discussing a meeting between Blinken and Wang during a recent Group of 20 event in Italy, but that never happened. According to the Financial Times, the US was exploring the possibility of a telephone call between Biden and Xi, but no progress has been made.
Wang criticized Washington on a number of issues. Regarding Afghanistan, he said that America has first raised the issue of Afghanistan. “It should not just burden others and withdraw from the country,” he said.
Military Threat
The US also needs to reconsider and “acknowledge and address Pyongyang’s legitimate concerns” over decades of persistent military threats and pressure on North Korea, Wang said. On the Iranian nuclear issue, Wang said the most important thing for the US is its decision to rejoin the agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
“America’s unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA and its maximum pressure on Iran are the root causes of the current Iranian nuclear crisis,” Wang said. “As the saying goes, he who has tied the bow, let him untie it.”
Wang cited US efforts in the Indo-Pacific as an example, saying the world should explicitly oppose a “block” confrontation. “It is a revival of the Cold War mentality and a regression of history. It should be thrown in the dustbin.”
“Looking at the old dream of hegemony during the Cold War will not secure a promising future, yet will do less building a better world,” Wang said.