China slams US for ‘unreasonable accusations’ in Alaska
Beijing, Mar 19 (efe-epa).- The Chinese delegation holding high-level talks with US officials in Alaska has accused Washington of making “unreasonable accusations” after the two sides traded sharp rebukes.
The meeting, which got off to a rocky start, was attended by the head of foreign affairs for the Chinese Communist Party Yang Jiechi and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
It began with Blinken saying that the US administration “is committed to leading with diplomacy to advance the interests of the United States and to strengthen the rules-based international order.”
“The alternative to a rules-based order is a world in which might makes right and winners take all, and that would be a far more violent and unstable world for all of us,” he added.
He also criticized Beijing for taking actions “including in Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan, cyber attacks on the United States, and economic coercion toward our allies” that he said “threaten the rules-based order that maintains global stability.”
In a rebuttal, Yang said: “We do not believe in invading through the use of force, or to topple other regimes through various means, or to massacre the people of other countries, because all of those would only cause turmoil and instability in this world.”
“We believe that it is important for the United States to change its own image and to stop advancing its own democracy in the rest of the world. Many people within the United States actually have little confidence in the democracy of the United States,” he said
The US needed to do better with its own human rights record, he said, adding that the US “exercised long-arm jurisdiction and suppression and overstretched the national security through the use of force or financial hegemony” and on cyber attack capabilities, the “US is the champion in this regard.”
After the meeting, China’s delegation slammed the US and defended its stance.
“The Chinese side came to Alaska with its mind set on strategic dialog, but the US side overran its time first and made unreasonable accusations, which was not in line with diplomatic protocol, therefore China made a stern response,” the delegation said, according to China’s state broadcaster CGTN Friday.
This is “not the way to treat guests,” it added, according to state newspaper, China Daily.
“The US seriously prolonged its opening remarks, attacked China’s domestic and foreign policies, and provoked disputes; it is not at all hospitable, nor does it conform to diplomatic etiquette, toward which China responded solemnly,” the delegation said, according to the state Global Times daily.
“Yang stressed the importance of managing differences between the two countries properly and promoting cooperation,” CGTN added.
Both sides had expressed low expectations before the meeting, the first high-level in-person dialog since US President Joe Biden took office earlier this year.
Relations between China and the US deteriorated drastically during the presidency of Donald Trump with clashes over trade, diplomatic and technological issues. EFE-EPA
jt/pd/tw
