BEIJING - The United States continues to have “misperceptions” of China despite some improvement in bilateral relations over the past few months, said China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

He called out the Americans’ continued trade and technology restrictions on China, noting that the US “had not really honoured the promises it had made” when President Xi Jinping and President Joe Biden met in San Francisco in November 2023.

While noting that ties between the countries had since improved a little, Mr Wang said pointedly that the US has “continued to find new ways to suppress China”, with the list of unilateral US sanctions on China continuing to lengthen.

Mr Biden had said the US did not seek to inhibit or curb China’s development, he noted.

Mr Wang asked: “If the US gets anxious at the mention of ‘China’, where is the confidence of a great power?” He was speaking at a press conference on March 7, on the sidelines of China’s ongoing parliamentary meetings, known as the Two Sessions, or lianghui, in Beijing.

US-China ties have shown signs of stabilising after the Xi-Biden summit, but fundamental differences remain, especially in the areas of trade and technology, as both powers engage in strategic competition.

The US has imposed controls on the export of advanced computing and semiconductor technologies, including high-end artificial intelligence (AI) chips, to China – restrictions that it further tightened in October 2023.

It has also lobbied its allies and partners to do the same.

Imports of Chinese technology have also been subjected to increasing scrutiny, with Mr Biden announcing in February an investigation into whether Chinese vehicles, including electric ones, posed national security risks.

“If the US insists on monopolising the high end of the value chain and only allows China to stay at the low end, where is the fair competition?” Mr Wang asked rhetorically.

At the press conference, he also called for increased international cooperation on AI while criticising protectionism in this rapidly advancing sector.

Applying a “small yard, high fence” view to AI is a mistake, said Mr Wang, using a term that describes the Americans’ approach to protect technologies that are deemed critical and strategic.

China will submit a draft resolution on strengthening international cooperation in AI capacity-building to the United Nations General Assembly to promote the sharing of technology among all parties, he added.

At the wide-ranging press conference, Mr Wang also addressed questions on China’s relations with the likes of Russia and the European Union.

He struck a conciliatory note on China’s relations with the EU.

Their ties have come under strain in recent months as Brussels investigates how subsidies for green energy sectors in China, particularly electric vehicles, might be undercutting competition in the bloc – a move that could lead to an imposition of tariffs on imports of these products from China.

Mr Wang expressed hope that relations between China and the EU could improve, but noted that the bloc’s mixed positioning on China complicated matters.

Noting that the EU has labelled China a “partner, competitor and systemic rival”, he said: “It’s like driving a car to an intersection, and seeing the red, yellow and green traffic lights come on at the same time. How do you drive this car then?

“We hope that China-EU relations will see a green light all the way.”

He also announced that ordinary passport holders from six European countries – Austria, Luxembourg, Belgium, Switzerland, Hungary and Ireland – will be allowed to enter China without a visa with effect from March 14.

Mr Wang also fielded questions on hot-button issues, such as cross-strait relations, the South China Sea and the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza.

On Taiwan, Mr Wang was resolute when asked how the Jan 13 presidential election on the self-governing island – won by the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party – would escalate tensions across the Taiwan Strait.

Dismissing it as “just a local election”, Mr Wang said Beijing would “never allow Taiwan to split from the motherland”, and would continue to “strive for the prospect of peaceful reunification”.

Any member of the international community that condones or supports Taiwanese independence is only “drawing fire unto themselves”, and will “suffer the consequences”, he warned.

The Foreign Minister’s engagement with the press – typically one of the highlights of the annual parliamentary meetings – has received greater attention in 2024 after the surprise announcement that Premier Li Qiang will no longer hold a press conference.

The change means that Mr Wang, a member of the 24-member Politburo, would be the most senior central government leader to give a standalone press conference at the ongoing Two Sessions.

He was reappointed as foreign minister in July 2023, replacing Mr Qin Gang, who was removed after just seven months in the post.