US, UK urged to discard Cold War mentality

Beijing urged Washington and London on Monday to discard their Cold War mentality, stop drawing ideological lines and practice true multilateralism.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin made the remark after the United Kingdom's Foreign Secretary Liz Truss issued the chair's statement of the G7 Foreign and Development Ministers' Meeting on Sunday.

The statement said that G7 members discussed a series of China-related questions and challenges, including Hong Kong, Xinjiang, the South China Sea, the East China Sea and peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits.

"China firmly opposes the G7 meddling in China's internal affairs, and smearing and damaging the interests of the country," Wang said.

Wang urged the United States and the UK to safeguard the rights to life and health of the people of their own countries, so as to avoid the loss of more lives due to COVID-19.

They were also urged to cease coercive measures such as the arbitrary detention of citizens of other countries, unreasonable suppression of targeted enterprises and wanton and illegal unilateral sanctions.

Wang also called for Washington, London and others to contribute to upholding international solidarity and tackling global challenges, rather than dividing the world and creating obstacles to problems facing humankind.

When asked about the extradition of the founder and publisher of Wiki-Leaks, Julian Assange, Wang noted that it fully demonstrated the US' double standards regarding freedom of the press and speech.

"Anyone can enjoy freedom of the press and speech, as long as they refrain from criticizing or disclosing crimes and deplorable records committed by the US, otherwise they will be thrown into jail such as what happened to Julian Assange," Wang said.

The UK's High Court ruled on Friday that Assange could be extradited from the UK to the US, where he faces spying charges over Wiki-Leaks' publication of secret military documents a decade ago.