BEIJING - China and the United States can compete but should not view each other with a Cold War mentality and should avoid thinking it is a zero-sum game, the Chinese government’s top diplomat said, amid deteriorating ties between the superpowers.
Beijing and Washington are locked in an increasingly bitter trade war and are increasingly at odds over other issues, such as U.S. support for self-ruled Taiwan which China claims, and U.S. sanctions on China’s military for buying Russian weapons.
At a meeting with former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger on Tuesday in New York on the sidelines of a United Nations meeting, Chinese State Councillor Wang Yi said that the two countries would only lose if they confronted each other.
“China and the United States can have competition, but should not use a Cold War mentality to view each other, and nor should they slip into the trap of a zero-sum game,” a Foreign Ministry statement on Wednesday quoted Wang as saying.
“Recently, certain U.S. forces domestically have been continually blackening China’s name, creating antagonistic feeling, which has caused serious harm to the atmosphere of Sino-U.S. ties,” Wang added, without naming names.
If that continues, it will lead relations down the wrong path, which is not in the interest of either country or the international community, he said.
China hopes the United States meets it halfway so they can have a “correct perception” of each other, and prevent this negative momentum from spreading to ensure relations don’t stray from the correct track, Wang added. (Reuters)