US diplomat spreading fake news about China, says Beijing

The Chinese government yesterday accused America's top diplomat of spreading fake news by calling China "the most serious long-term challenge to the international order", and cast doubts on the United States' sincerity in wanting to avoid conflict.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokes-man Wang Wenbin also urged the US to let go of its desire to contain his country, and stop words and actions that have undermined the relationship between both nations, which is at an all-time low.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had, in his 45-minute speech on the Biden administration's China policy on Thursday, said China has undermined the global order that has allowed it to flourish and become the world's second-largest economy.

He added that the administration will "shape the strategic environment around Beijing to advance our vision for an open and inclusive international system".

Mr Blinken also noted that the Communist Party of China "has become more repressive at home and more aggressive abroad".

Mr Wang said yesterday that calling China "the most serious long-term challenge to the international order" is a classic example of the US' smear campaign against its biggest rival.

China has been promoting and adhering to the United Nations Charter "to defend international order", while the US has been working with "a few countries" to come up with systems that ensure American hegemony, he added at a regular press briefing.

One example is the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework that US President Joe Biden unveiled on Monday that leaves out China.

The "small groups" that the US has been forming is contrary to Mr Blinken's claim that the country does not aim to contain China's growth, Mr Wang said.

He also said the US has continuously interfered in China's internal affairs, such as issues involving Taiwan, Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Tibet. "These are areas that China has no room for compromise or concessions," he added, urging the US to "abide by the basic norms of international relations and to stop spreading fake news" about these territories as well.

Mr Blinken had said the US stands with countries "against the genocide and crimes against humanity happening in the Xinjiang region", and on Tibet, where Beijing has waged "a brutal campaign against Tibetans and their culture, language and religious traditions".

In an editorial yesterday, Chinese state media outlet Global Times called Mr Blinken's speech a "summary of old cliches" as the US continues with its campaign to "stigmatise Beijing despite a seemingly softer rhetoric".

It also posited that Mr Biden has a crisis of approval in the US, and has resorted to focusing on China "to promote internal unity and save (his) approval ratings", which previous US presidents have done as well.

"The strategic mutual trust between China and the US is fragile... If China-US ties continue to worsen, the tensions may get out of control and end up in conflict," the editorial said.

Assistant Professor Dylan Loh, who studies Chinese foreign policy at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, said: "The relationship between Washington and Beijing is so poor that it would take quite something else to further deteriorate it.

"So, Mr Blinken's comments that America has no desire to prevent China from playing the role of a major player and also that it doesn't want a new 'Cold War', I think, are to be welcomed."