New Chinese premier says decoupling from US not beneficial to anyone

Beijing, Mar 13 (EFE) .- The new Chinese premier, Li Qiang, said Monday that the economic decoupling between his country and the United States would not be in anyone’s interest.

“I wonder how many people can truly benefit from this,” Li said at his first press conference since his appointment on Saturday, towards the end of the National People’s Assembly, one of the main political yearly events in China.

Li said the US and China can and should cooperate, and that both countries benefit from each other’s development.

“China and the United States are closely intertwined economically, and both have benefited from the other side’s development,” he said.

The new premier added that attempts at “encirclement” and “suppression” of China would not benefit anyone.

Relations between Beijing and Washington have significantly deteriorated over the past year due to conflicts such as the visit to Taiwan last year by then-US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, trade and technology related sanctions, as well as the recent crisis over the “spy” balloons. EFE

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