. Cooperation should not be ‘one side drawing up a laundry list of demands for the other side’, foreign vice-minister Le Yucheng says
. There is a ‘negative tendency in the US’ to be tough on China, which is ‘dangerous, and could derail this relationship’, he says
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China’s foreign vice-minister Le Yucheng says some people in the US are competing to be tough on China. Photo: AP
A senior Chinese diplomat has warned that the “negative tendency” of the United States to be tough on China could lead to “catastrophe”, as he slammed Washington’s criticism of Beijing’s alleged human rights abuses.
Foreign vice-minister Le Yucheng told Associated Press on Friday that US President Joe Biden’s administration’s definition of the relationship between China and the US as competitive, cooperative and adversarial was a negative one.
He instead called for greater cooperation on issues such as fighting Covid-19 and climate change on a basis that was “equal-footed” rather than “one side drawing up a laundry list of demands for the other side”.
“Regrettably, there is a negative tendency in the United States … some people are competing to be tougher on China and taking this as a politically correct thing to do,” Le said, according to a transcript of the interview published on Sunday by China’s foreign ministry.
“This tendency is dangerous and could derail this relationship and lead the world to catastrophe. Such a tendency must be stopped.”
Le’s remarks came after climate talks between the two sides in Shanghai last week, at which they agreed to increase cooperation on the issue. Biden is set to host a virtual summit on climate change later this week, to which Chinese President Xi Jinping and 39 other state leaders have been invited.
While Beijing had hoped the Biden administration would usher in a reset in the China-US relationship, tensions have continued to rise over Beijing’s policies in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, and its increasingly aggressive stance on Taiwan and its South China Sea territorial disputes.
Le said Xi was considering attending Biden’s summit, but said it was “not very realistic” for any nation to expect China to speed up its timeline for reducing carbon emissions.
“When it comes to climate response, China is at a stage different from that of the US and European developed countries,” he said. “China will continue to do its best under the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, and will contribute even more to the global emissions reduction.”
On human rights, Le said the US had engaged in “name calling” with regards to its sanctions against Chinese officials and entities linked to forced labour and genocide allegations in Xinjiang, and insisted that the region was open for journalists and Western diplomats to visit.
Xinjiang is notorious for heavy surveillance, including on journalists, and a planned visit by European Union ambassadors to the region stalled, reportedly because Beijing refused to allow diplomats to visit Uygur academic Ilham Tohti, who was jailed in 2014 on separatism charges.
“We have invited Western diplomats to Xinjiang but they are still reluctant to accept,” Le said. “I wonder what are they afraid of? We welcome them to come and visit Xinjiang, and they should come as visitors, not as investigators. We welcome friends to visit us. But if they come into the house as if this is their own place and search up and down for the so-called evidence of crimes, then of course they won’t be welcome.”
In response to its bans on tomatoes and cotton from Xinjiang, Le accused the US of “adding unemployment and poverty” to the region and said the real purpose of the sanctions was to “hold back China’s development”.
Beijing has dismissed allegations of forced labour and insists its hardline policies in Xinjiang have been effective in the fight against terrorism and separatist groups.
“The United States doesn’t trust us because it has its own calculations,” Le said. “It prefers to believe in the presumption of guilt.”
The vice-minister also defended Beijing’s recent electoral overhaul of Hong Kong’s legislative system, saying it was essential to ensure “patriots” administered the city. On the matter of Beijing’s claims to Taiwan, he said there was “no room for compromise”.
In the wake of Washington’s policy to “encourage US government engagement with Taiwan”, Le said China opposed any official engagement between the two.
“Whether low-level or high-level, official engagement is what we firmly oppose,” he said. “The United States should not play the Taiwan card. It is dangerous.”
On tensions in the South China Sea, Le slammed the passage of US warships through the disputed waters, 90 per cent of which Beijing claims as its territory.
“The South China Sea could have been peaceful and tranquil, except that the United States has been flexing its military muscle and stoking discords,” he said.
“Let me draw an analogy. People can pass by my doorstep. That is fine. But imagine if a person with weapons lingering at your doorstep and spying on you, time and again, without leaving, that would be a kind of provocation, harassment and threatening. Of course we are strongly opposed to that.”
