China will continue to work for peaceful reunification with Taiwan, Wang said, but warned that anyone who supports independence for Taiwan would pay a price.
China accused the United States of devising tactics, saying that President Biden is obsessed with suppressing Beijing, a move that will ultimately backfire and harm Washington itself.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi further criticised the Biden administration for expanding its sanctions lists to include more companies based in China.
Addressing the media during the annual meeting of China’s legislature, Wang Yi said that relations with the U.S. have improved since President Xi Jinping and Joe Biden met in November, but that America has not fulfilled its promises.
“If the U.S. always says one thing and does another, where is its credibility as a major power? If the U.S. gets nervous and anxious when it hears the word ‘China,’ where is its confidence as a major power?” he said. “If the U.S. is obsessed with suppressing China, it will eventually harm itself.”
The minister also vowed to deepen relations with Russia, as Beijing continues to assert the importance of what it calls a “multipolar” world order.
Wang, a 70-year-old veteran diplomat who has earned Xi’s trust, returned to the foreign minister’s post last summer after his successor, Qin Gang, was abruptly dismissed without explanation after a half year on the job.
China alleges the U.S. is trying to contain and suppress its high-tech development and industrial policy, while both militaries eye each other closely amid increased deployments across East Asia.
“So we urge the U.S. to understand the historical development trend, objectively and rationally look at China’s development (and) actively and pragmatically carry out interactions with China.”
Beijing also faces ongoing geopolitical confrontations on multiple fronts, including with Europe on trade and the Ukraine war, Japan across a variety of issues, as well as the Philippines over the South China Sea, a regional hotbed of competing territorial claims.
Wang said China is willing to work with Russia to foster new drivers of cooperation and consolidate friendship.
China and Russia had declared a “no limits” partnership in February 2022 when Putin visited Beijing just days before he sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine, triggering the deadliest land war in Europe since World War Two.
Wang also announced an expansion of its visa-free travel scheme, saying that China will offer visa-free travel to nationals from Switzerland, Ireland, Hungary, Australia, Belgium and Luxembourg from March 14.
Wang accused the United States, without mentioning it by name, of stirring up trouble in Taiwan and the South China Sea. China says that self-governing Taiwan is part of China and should be under its control, and it claims a wide swath of the South China Sea, putting it at odds with the Philippines, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian neighbours.
The Philippines and the U.S. have accused China of aggressive tactics in trying to block Philippines ships from reaching reefs and other outcroppings that both sides claim, most recently in a collision between coast guard vessels of both countries this week.
“For unreasonable provocations, we will take just countermeasures,” Wang said. “We also advise certain countries outside the region not to stir up trouble, choose sides, and not to become disruptors and troublemakers in the South China Sea.”
He said countries that insist on maintaining official ties with Taiwan are interfering in China’s domestic affairs. Most countries, including the United States, don’t have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but China objects to visits by U.S. lawmakers to the island and U.S. sales of military equipment for its defence.
China will continue to work for peaceful reunification with Taiwan, Wang said, but warned that anyone who supports independence for Taiwan would pay a price. Most Taiwanese prefer to remain separate from China without antagonizing it. They fear Chinese rule could endanger their freedoms and democracy, particularly after China’s crackdown on Hong Kong.
“Our bottom line is also very clear,” Wang said. “That is Taiwan will never be allowed to split from the motherland.”
With inputs from agencies.
