BEIJING (AP) – A senior Chinese diplomat said on Friday that US policy towards China is “too negative” and that cooperation could be of critical importance as the Biden administration focuses on fighting COVID-19 and promote economic recovery.
The United States seems to highlight the confrontation and minimize cooperation, Deputy Foreign Minister Le Yucheng said in an extensive interview with The Associated Press.
“I have to say this approach is too negative,” he said, adding that he lacks “a spirit of the future.”
He said China could be a partner while Biden tackles the coronavirus and the economy.
“It’s hard for me to imagine that the two priorities can be resolved without a cooperative and healthy relationship between China and the United States,” he said.
Le also noted that China is unlikely to make any new commitments at a meeting on climate change convened by President Joe Biden for next week. He spoke as Biden’s climate envoy, John Kerry, who discussed the issue on the second day of closed-door meetings with his Chinese counterparts in Shanghai.
Chinese President Xi Jinping announced last year that China would be carbon neutral by 2060 and aimed to reach its maximum emissions by 2030.
“For a large country with 1.4 billion people, these goals cannot be easily achieved,” Le said. “Some countries are asking China to do more about climate change. I’m afraid that’s not very realistic. “
He told her he had no details about Kerry’s meetings in Shanghai.
Biden has invited 40 world leaders, including Xi, to a virtual climate summit from April 22-23. The United States and other countries are expected to announce more ambitious national targets to reduce emissions and promise financial aid for the climate efforts of less affluent nations.
He told her that China would convey a positive message at the meeting, but added that China is responding to climate change on its own initiative, not because others have asked for it. On whether Xi would join the summit, Le told him that “the Chinese side is actively studying the issue.”
The United States and China are increasingly at odds over a number of issues, including human rights in Tibet and the Xinjiang region, a crackdown on protest and political freedom in Hong Kong, China’s assertion of its demands territorial areas in Taiwan and most of the South China Sea. and allegations Beijing took a long time to inform the world about the COVID-19 outbreak that turned into a devastating pandemic.
China was expecting an improvement in relations with Biden, who succeeded President Donald Trump in January, but the new administration has shown no sign of backing down on hard-line policies towards China. Both sides exchanged sharp and unusually public exchanges at the start of talks in Alaska last month.
He told her that after the opening of the Alaska talks, the dialogue was constructive and useful and that both sides are following up on the issues discussed.
The two countries could join the coronavirus response, he said, but any cooperation must be equal, an apparent reference to U.S. pressure on China on multiple fronts.
“It’s not one side to put together a laundry list of demands on the other side,” Le said. “In cooperation, one should not be selfish and worry only about one’s own interests without regard to the well-being of the other side.”
The same day several pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong were convicted, Defended the repression of China against the protest in the semi-autonomous territory. He described the convicts as rioters and said they “deserve what they got”.
He added: “I don’t think it’s weird if Hong Kong somehow looks more like a Chinese city because after all Hong Kong is part of China.”
The United Kingdom, the United States and others have accused Beijing of renouncing its commitment to run the former British colony under a framework called “one country, two systems” for 50 years after its handover to the 1997 Chinese government.
He set aside these criticisms, saying, “Hong Kong is always Hong Kong of China and this is something that will not change.”
The deputy minister also condemned Western sanctions against companies accused of human rights and labor abuses in Xinjiang. The United States blocked imports from several companies operating in the region last year and added a general ban on Xinjiang’s cotton and tomato products in January.
Instead of protecting workers, Le said, “sanctions have damaged human rights in Xinjiang, leading to forced unemployment and forced poverty in Xinjiang.”
He also repeated warnings against the US government’s contact with Taiwan, after Biden sent a delegation of former U.S. officials to meet the island’s president this week. China claims Taiwan’s self-government as territory and says, like Hong Kong, that it should be under Beijing’s control.
“The U.S. should never try to play the Taiwan card,” Le said. “It simply came to our notice then. This is our red line. The United States should never try to cross it. “
U.S. military officials have warned that China may be accelerating its deadline to seize control of Taiwan. Asked if China had a deadline, Le only said it was a “historic process.”