Wang urges US to stop hyping threat and lift sanctions

Senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi has asked the United States to stop hyping up China's threat, lift illegal unilateral sanctions against China, stop its suppression of China's scientific and technological development, and refrain from interfering in China's internal affairs.

Wang, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, made the urge when meeting with visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Beijing on Monday morning.

Blinken arrived in Beijing on Sunday morning for his first visit to China as secretary of state from Sunday to Monday.

Wang said that the secretary of state's trip to Beijing takes place amid a critical juncture in China-US relations, and it is time to make a choice between dialogue and confrontation, and between cooperation and conflict.

"China-US relations should also move forward after all," he said. "We should reverse the spiraling down of China-US relations with an attitude of being responsible to the people, history and the world, promote (the ties') return to a healthy and stable track."

Both sides should also "jointly find the proper path for China and the US to get along with each other in the new era", Wang added.

Blinken introduced the views of the US side, saying that the US is committed to returning to the agenda set by the meeting between the two heads of state in Indonesia's Bali last year.

Washington looks forward to strengthening communication with China, being responsible for managing differences, and cooperating in areas where the two sides have common interests, he added.

The two sides also exchanged views on international and regional issues of common concern.

During the talks, Wang focused on analyzing the essence of the Taiwan question.

He stressed that safeguarding the country's unification "is always at the core of China's core interests", it matters to the fate of all Chinese people, and it is part of the unswerving historical mission of the Communist Party of China.

"China has no room for compromise" in this regard, he said.

He said that the US must truly adhere to the one-China principle as defined in the three joint communiqués between China and the US, respect China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and clearly reject "Taiwan independence".

Wang urged the US not to apply China to the belief that "a strong nation surely will seek hegemony, or to use the past trajectories of traditional Western powers to misjudge China.

"This is the key to whether the US policy towards China can truly return to an objective and rational approach," he said.

Wang stressed that the past ups and downs of China-US relations stem from the very origin — the US' erroneous understanding of China, which led to its erroneous policy towards China.

He said that China-US relations have gone through twists and turns, and "it is necessary for the US to reflect deeply and work with China to manage differences and avoid strategic accidents".

In order to avert the ties’ fall and stabilize the relations, the most urgent thing is to truly implement the consensus of the two heads of state, he added.

To achieve stability and long-term development, the most important thing is to follow the principle of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation as put forward by President Xi Jinping, he said.