China’s top diplomat on Monday called for the new US President Joe Biden to remove trade and people-to-people communication restrictions while ceasing what Beijing considers unjustified interference in the areas of Taiwan, Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet. Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s remarks on the US-China relations at a Foreign Ministry forum come as Beijing pushes the new administration in Washington to abandon several of the former President Donald Trump’s confrontational steps.
In 2017, Trump raised tariffs on Chinese imports and placed bans and other restrictions on Chinese tech firms and academic exchanges as he tried to resolve complaints about a trade deficit and claims of Chinese theft of American technology. Trump has also improved military and diplomatic relations with Taiwan, the self-governing island democracy that China considers to be its own territory, while sanctioning Chinese officials accused in Xinjiang of abuses against Muslim minorities and a crackdown on freedoms in Hong Kong.
As the US administration is reviewing and evaluating its foreign policy. China hopes that the US President can keep pace with the times, see the world trend clearly, abandon prejudices, give up unjustified fears and move to put China’s policy back to reason to ensure a stable, steady growth of China-US relation. Although Biden has vowed re-engagement in the US diplomacy and a more friendly tone, it is uncertain if he will make any fundamental improvements to Washington’s Beijing policies. Due to its trade record, territorial conflicts with neighbors, and allegations of technology theft and espionage, China faces more criticism than ever in Washington. As with criticisms of China’s human rights record, especially in Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet, Taiwan enjoys strong bipartisan support.
Biden in his first speech to the global audience said that the US and its allies would prepare together for a long-term strategic competition with China. The competition with China will be stiff. That’s what the government expect, and that’s what they welcome, because the government believe that Europe and the US, along with their Indo-Pacific allies, have worked so hard to build the global structure over the past 70 years. Wang urged the US to stop smearing the reputation of the ruling Chinese Communist Party and “stop conniving with or even supporting the erroneous words and actions of separatist forces”for the independence of Taiwan and stop undermining the sovereignty and security of China in Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet’s internal affairs. In order to reverse sharp declines in the number of Chinese studying in the US and , the US should also lift restrictions on media, education and people-to-people exchanges, Wang said that he hopes the two sides will work together to direct the China-US giant ship.
