China, US can achieve ‘great things’ together, says Wang Yi

BEIJING - China’s top diplomat said on Dec 17 that he hoped the incoming US administration would “make the right choice” and work with Beijing, hours after President-elect Donald Trump told reporters the Covid-19 pandemic had strained his relationship with “friend” Xi Jinping.

“We hope the new US administration will make the right choice and work with China in a mutually beneficial manner to remove disruptions and overcome obstacles,” Foreign Minister Wang Yi told a forum in Beijing, according to a statement from his ministry.

The remarks followed Trump telling his first news conference since his election victory six weeks ago that Chinese President Xi Jinping had been a friend of his and that “he is an amazing guy”, but that relations had been strained.

“We had a very good relationship until Covid-19,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Dec 16, when asked whether Mr Xi would attend his inauguration. “Covid-19 didn’t end the relationship, but it was a bridge too far for me.”

Mr Wang said Beijing and Washington can achieve “many great things” if they work together, ahead of Trump’s January’s inauguration. But he also warned against what he called the US’ “crude interference” on the issue of Taiwan.

The world’s two largest economies have butted heads on a range of issues in recent years, from trade and technology to human rights and China’s growing assertiveness towards the self-ruled island of Taiwan.

Mr Wang said China’s policy towards the US “has not changed”, during a Dec 17 address in Beijing that reflected on the country’s diplomatic work in the past year and its expectations for the future.

He said that economic working groups and cooperation on cross-border drug control “fully prove that as long as China and the United States cooperate, we can accomplish many great things”.

But he also repeated a warning over Taiwan, saying Beijing “resolutely opposed illegal and unreasonable suppression by the United States, especially its crude interference in China’s internal affairs”, including the status of the self-ruled island.

“We must take a firm and strong response, resolutely defend our own legitimate rights and interests, and safeguard the basic norms of international relations,” Mr Wang said.

China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has said it will never renounce using force to seize it one day, while the US has a longstanding arrangement to provide Taipei with the means to defend itself.

Taiwan officials last week said China had held its biggest maritime drills around the island in years,

deploying around 90 ships

from near the southern islands of Japan to the South China Sea and simulating attacks on foreign vessels and sea route blockades.

Beijing never confirmed the drills, but a Defence Ministry spokesman said “whether or not we hold exercises, and when we hold them, is decided by us alone”.

The China-US relationship may sour further after Trump is inaugurated on Jan 20, with the President-elect vowing more tariffs to punish what he calls unfair trade practices by China – something Beijing firmly denies.

Mr Wang said Beijing hoped the Trump administration would “make the right choices, work with China in the same direction, eliminate disruptions, overcome obstacles, and strive for stable, healthy, and sustainable development of bilateral relations”.

‘Turbulence and change’

But Mr Wang also used his speech to paint a darker picture of an increasingly conflict-ridden world, saying: “The global landscape is marked by intertwined turbulence and change, with geopolitical conflicts dragging on and escalating, and decoupling and supply chain disruptions growing increasingly severe.”

He added: “In the face of global turbulence and conflict, China will firmly remain a force for peace.”

Mr Wang highlighted Beijing’s diplomatic work over the past year, noting its mediation in July of

a “national unity” deal between Palestinian factions

including Hamas and Fatah to rule Gaza together after the war there ends.

On Syria, where rebels led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham

ousted President Bashar al-Assad

in December, Mr Wang said China would “continue to stand with the Syrian people (and) uphold the principles of Syrian leadership and ownership”.

“(We) oppose terrorist forces taking advantage of the situation to create chaos, and support Syria in safeguarding its sovereignty and restoring stability,” he added.

Mr Wang also said China would maintain a “high level of strategic mutual trust” with Russia, despite widespread criticism from Western countries that Beijing has provided diplomatic and economic cover for Moscow to wage a war of aggression in Ukraine. REUTERS, AFP