According to state media, Chinese President Xi Jinping has denounced the “oppression” of his country by the United States. Under US leadership, Western countries have “all-round sealed off, encircled and suppressed China, which has posed unprecedented challenges for our country’s development,” Xi said Monday in a speech to delegates at the Political Consultative Conference, according to a report by the state-run Xinhua News Agency of the Chinese people in Beijing.
In recent years, China has been confronted with a number of new hurdles that threatened to slow down its economic rise. In view of “profound and complex changes in both the national and international landscape, the People’s Republic must have the courage to fight,” said the 69-year-old head of state, who is about to start his third term.
Sessions of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference usually coincide with the expected ten-day National People’s Congress, which is currently being held in Beijing. As usual, the MPs should unanimously approve the decisions of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CP). It is therefore considered certain that President Xi Jinping will be confirmed as head of state for a third term. This further cemented his position as the most powerful president since the founder of the state, Mao Zedong.
If the United States “doesn’t step on the brakes, but continues to follow the wrong path,” even crash barriers would no longer be able to stop a derailment, China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang told journalists on Tuesday. Then there would certainly be “conflicts and confrontations,” said the diplomat, and warned of “catastrophic consequences.”
According to Qin Gang, the US regards China as its main adversary and as the most serious geopolitical challenge. The consequence of this assumption is that the Americans’ China policy has completely strayed from the “rational path”. Although Washington speaks of competition, it actually wants to suppress China in all areas. Qin Gang likened the relationships to an unfair Olympic race: “When an athlete, instead of focusing on doing their best, is always trying to outsmart or even hurt the other, then that’s not a fair competition, it’s a malicious confrontation and a foul game,” said the Chinese Foreign Minister. He called for getting relations back on track. This is not an option, but a necessity.
China and the USA are in fierce economic competition. The issues of dispute between Washington and Beijing are trade and human rights. In addition, a Chinese balloon was shot down over the US east coast, which the White House said was used for espionage purposes. China rejects this.
Relations between China and the United States had recently deteriorated significantly, also due to the Taiwan question. US officials have repeatedly warned of a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan. China regards Taiwan, which has been split off since 1949, as a breakaway territory.
The Foreign Minister also called for peace talks in the war in Ukraine. In his appeal, however, Gang also called for the “legitimate security interests of all parties to be respected” – a phrase that China usually uses to make clear its backing for the Russian position. The conflict is essentially “an outbreak of problems” in the security architecture in Europe, Qin Gang told the press on the occasion of the current annual meeting of the People’s Congress.
It is unfortunate that efforts for peace talks have been repeatedly undermined, Qin Gang said. “There appears to be an invisible hand urging a drag and escalation of the conflict, using the Ukraine crisis to advance a specific geopolitical agenda.”
He hailed China-Russia relations as a “model for new international relations.” Some countries looked at the relationship through Cold War lenses. However, Qin Gang asserted that the relations are not an alliance and are not directed confrontationally against third parties. “The more turbulent the world is, the more steadily Russian-Chinese relations should advance.”
