Wei Wei

Opinion | How can China believe US really wants better relations when its actions don’t match its words?

Blinken’s trip was followed by Biden’s insults, the promising Bali summit was followed by further China containment measures. Clearly, Washington has yet to show Beijing it is sincere in its efforts

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Wei Wei

Published: 1:00am, 27 Jun 2023

Every Chinese is taught from a young age, through the country’s history and culture, to be a person of integrity, to walk the talk, and treat others with respect. Call me naive, but I also believe integrity should be the basic principle for interactions between countries. However, given the behaviour of the US, the most powerful country in the world, I’m starting to have doubts.

Last week, US President Joe Biden called President Xi Jinping a “dictator” and dismissed China as a country with “real economic difficulties”, right after he had sent US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Beijing to seek rapprochement. The Chinese embassy in Washington said that after this “political provocation”, “people cannot help but question the sincerity of the US side”.

Three days before Biden’s disparaging remarks, Xi, while meeting Blinken, made clear China’s integrity in its relations with the US, and demanded the same. “China respects the interests of the United States and does not seek to challenge or displace the United States”, he said, adding that “the United States must also respect China and not harm China’s legitimate rights and interests”.

Clearly, Beijing already felt the US had treated it with little or no respect and had not taken China’s concerns and interests into consideration. Bilateral relations are now widely seen to be at their lowest level since the establishment of diplomatic ties, and trapped in a downward spiral.

Meanwhile, the consensus in Washington on a tough China policy continues to strengthen. A bipartisan majority in Congress has worked closely with the Biden administration to devise a policy framework aimed at the all-round containment of China’s influence.

Since the 118th US Congress began in January, it has put forward numerous China-related proposals including on trade, human rights, finance, energy, security, public health, science and technology, agriculture, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet.