Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi yesterday had a telephone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Blinken congratulated China on the successful Beijing Winter Olympics and the Chinese athletes on their great achievements.
While extending his congratulations to the American athletes for their fine performances in the Beijing Winter Olympics, Wang said that the Chinese and American athletes have fully demonstrated the Olympic spirit by friendly interaction, mutual encouragement and common improvement.
The Chinese foreign minister said that the most important thing in grasping and advancing China-U.S. relations is to implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state.
He stressed that China is willing to effectively manage differences and stabilize China-U.S. relations in line with the three principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation put forward by President Xi Jinping.
According to Wang, the United States has recently launched the so-called new version of the “Indo-Pacific Strategy,” publicly listed China as the top regional challenge, and tried to include the strategy of “using Taiwan to contain China” into the U.S. regional strategy, which is obviously sending a wrong signal of beleaguering and containing China.
Since there are both competition and cooperation between China and the United States, bilateral relations cannot be defined simply by competition, Wang said, adding that some U.S. officials have trumpeted a long-term fierce competition with China, which is likely to evolve into a full-blown confrontation between China and the United States.
China urges the U.S. side to take concrete actions to honor the commitments made by President Biden, Wang noted, adding that Washington cannot say one thing yet do the opposite, eat their words or show no credibility.
The senior Chinese diplomat also said that the 50th anniversary of the Shanghai Communique will come in a few days, the spirit of which is still of great realistic significance to China-U.S. relations today.
He expressed the hope that the United States will stay true to the original aspiration of breaking ice between China and the United States, return to a rational and pragmatic perception of China and jointly push bilateral relations back onto the right track for healthy and stable development.
For his part, Blinken said that as President Biden has said many times, the United States does not seek a new Cold War or to change China’s system, adding it opposes “Taiwan independence” and has no intention of conflict or confrontation with China.
Ukraine situation
During the call, Wang expounded China’s stance on the Ukraine crisis.
“China is concerned about the evolving situation in Ukraine, and China’s position on the Ukraine issue is consistent,” the spokesperson quoted the foreign minister as saying, noting that the legitimate security concerns of any country should be respected, and the purposes and principles of the UN Charter should be upheld.
He said the current situation in the Ukraine crisis is closely related to the delay in the effective implementation of the new Minsk agreement, and China will continue to make contacts with all relevant parties according to the merits of the matter itself.
China once again calls on all parties to exercise restraint, realize the importance of implementing the “indivisibility of security” principle, ease tensions and resolve differences through dialogue and negotiation as the situation in Ukraine is getting worse, the spokesperson said.
In a press briefing later yesterday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry called on all parties on the Ukraine issue to remain calm, ease tensions and resolve differences through dialogue and negotiation. Xinhua
