Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a telephone conversation today with United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken, according to a statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry that omitted any reference to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Wang Yi called for “confrontation not to define relations” between China and the United States, noting that some US officials “advocate long-term and fierce competition” with the Asian country, which, he warned, could turn into a “confrontation in all aspects” between the two countries.
The Chinese foreign minister referred to the US Strategy for the Indo-Pacific designed by the White House and announced this month, which warned of “the challenges presented by China” in the economic, military, diplomatic and technological fields.
The document, which mentioned “support for Taiwanese defense capabilities” by the US, is a “wrong signal of containment against China” and represents a strategy of “using Taiwan to control China,” Wang said. .
The head of Chinese diplomacy urged the US to “take concrete measures” that reflect “the commitments made” by its president, Joe Biden.
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Shanghai Communiqué, in which Washington recognized – but did not endorse – the One China principle, according to which Beijing is the only Chinese government, the Chinese foreign minister explained that the document “still has a strong meaning practical for Sino-US relations”.
For his part, Blinken assured Wang that the United States is not “seeking to engage in a new Cold War” or “change China’s system.”
Likewise, the Secretary of State reiterated his country’s opposition to Taiwan’s independence, according to the Chinese statement.
The State Department also echoed the conversation between Wang and Blinken, which it summarized in a brief statement: the topics of the call were “the development” of the “Russian aggression against Ukraine” and “North Korea”, issues to those that the Chinese Foreign Ministry did not refer to.
According to the US statement, Blinken stressed the “need to protect Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Last Saturday, Wang Yi called for not reviving the “Cold War mentality” in the context of tensions around Ukraine, reiterating that China’s position is that “sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence” of countries ” must be protected”, a principle to which Ukraine “is no exception”.