Vice-minister hits out at US' anti-China behavior

Foreign Ministry Vice-Minister Xie Feng has said the China-US relationship is in a stalemate, "faces serious difficulties", and the fundamental reason behind this is because some Americans portray China as an "imagined enemy".

Xie, vice-minister in charge of US affairs, made the remarks during talks with visiting US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman on Monday morning in Tianjin.

He noted the "Pearl Harbor moment" and "Sputnik moment" have been brought up by some Americans when talking about conflict with China and challenges facing the US.

Some international scholars, including some US academics, perceive this as comparing China to Japan in World War II and the Soviet Union in the Cold War, he said.

By making China an "imagined enemy", he added, a national sense of purpose could be reignited in the US, and their hope may be that by demonizing China, the US could shift domestic public discontent over political, economic and social issues.

"A whole-of-government and whole-of-society campaign is being waged to bring China down", Xie said, adding the belief appears to be when China's development is contained, all USdomestic and external challenges would go away, and the US would "become great" again and the so-called Pax Americana would continue.

He criticized the US for manufacturing issues with China, noting that the US side appears to have nothing else to talk about.

"We urge the United States to change its highly misguided mindset and dangerous policy," he said.