Pompeo's remarks baseless, distort facts, Xinhua says

Xinhua News Agency has published a 20,000-word article rebuking US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's speech delivered at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library in California a month ago, saying it negated every aspect of China-US relations and misrepresented history and reality.

Refuting Pompeo's remark that US "blind engagement" with China has failed, Xinhua said "US engagement with China is deliberate rather than blind, and serves the national interests of the United States".

Pompeo's assertion that the policy has failed is a rehash of the Cold War mentality, and the "distrust and verify" approach he advocated abounds with a Cold War mentality, ideological bias, condescending and bullying attitudes, and ignorance toward China, the article said.

The root cause of the trust deficit between China and the US is the Cold War mentality, ideological bias, and zero-sum game mindset of certain US politicians, who have misread, misjudged or deliberately distorted China's strategic intention and its internal and external policies, the Xinhua article said.

China's policy toward the US has been highly stable and consistent, and it stands ready to develop bilateral relations featuring no conflict and confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation, it said, adding that China has every right to reject any bullying and injustice imposed on it.

"While the United States unscrupulously contains and smears China around the world, and meddles in China's domestic affairs, it should not demand unrealistically that China show understanding and support to the United States in bilateral and global affairs," it added.

Dismissing Pompeo's playing up of the two countries' differences, Xinhua said China never intends to challenge, replace or have a full confrontation with the US, nor does it seek to change the US system.

The most fundamental reason for the normalization of bilateral ties in 1972 was that both sides upheld the principle of mutual respect and seeking common ground while shelving differences, it said.

"The ups and downs in China-US relations provide ample evidence that confrontation and conflict are not in the fundamental interests of both sides, and dialogue and cooperation are the only way to go," it said.

Xinhua also rebutted Pompeo's accusation that China seeks "global hegemony".

The People's Republic of China, which has never started any war or occupied an inch of the land of others since its founding over 70 years ago, follows a path of peaceful development and will never seek hegemony or engage in expansion, it said.

In contrast to the US, which has refused to join or has withdrawn from a number of international treaties and organizations, including the Paris Agreement on climate change and the Iran nuclear deal, China upholds multilateralism and the international system with the United Nations at its core, it said.

Yuan Zheng, deputy director of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of American Studies, said Pompeo's speech was a "total deviation" from truth and history.

Since the normalization of bilateral ties in 1972, China and the US have both benefited from their cooperation in trade and cultural exchanges, as well as on a number of global, regional and bilateral issues, disproving claims of a failed US engagement policy, Yuan said.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Tuesday that Pompeo has been wantonly slandering China motivated by ideological prejudice and self-interest, and China will not let him mislead the public.

Pointing out that a handful of US politicians are treating the Communist Party of China and the Chinese government as "heretics" and are attempting to carry out an "ideological crusade", Zhao said that the leadership of the CPC "is a choice of history and the people".

"No one can turn a blind eye to the fact that the CPC is endorsed and supported by the Chinese people. Any attempt to change or even contain China will not succeed and is bound to fail," he added.

Rebuking the "China threat "claims, Zhao said those US politicians must recognize the fact that "China is a positive force for global peace and prosperity, not a negative factor; an opportunity, not a threat".