Beijing has made it clear how Washington can build guardrails: China Daily editorial

That China took a direct to-the-point approach to make clear its core concerns in the first face-to-face talks with a senior US official since the heated exchanges between the countries' top diplomats in Anchorage, Alaska, in March, shows it has completely seen through the deceptive nature of the Joe Biden administration's China policy, and has the confidence and capacity to throw dos and don'ts back in the face of the US.

After pointing out the hypocrisy of the Biden administration's China policy, a total deceit as he put it, Vice-Foreign Minister Xie Feng gave two lists to the visiting US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman in Tianjin on Monday — one of the wrongdoings that the US must stop, and the other of individual cases China is concerned about.

And State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi drew three redlines in his meeting with her afterward: The US should not challenge, smear and try to overthrow socialism with Chinese characteristics; the US should not try to thwart and end China's development; and the US should not infringe upon China's sovereignty and harm China's territorial integrity.

When Sherman responded by insisting that China should follow the "rules-based international order", she was immediately asked by Wang what "rules" she was referring to. He said that all countries must follow the United Nations Charter and international laws, and if her rules are those the US makes with its allies, why should those rules be enforced on China?

That the two lists consist of almost all the open and underhand actions Washington has taken to challenge all of the three redlines — ranging from bullying to wayward sanctions — demonstrates to the world which side should be blamed for the deterioration of Sino-US relations and the damaging repercussions.

It should also serve to expose the true colors of the US, which is always ready to stoop to new lows to defend its hegemony. Even as Sherman was supposedly discussing erecting "guardrails" to prevent the relationship from veering into conflict, the US secretary of defense is visiting Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines and the US secretary of state is visiting India and the United Arab Emirates this week to peddle the Indo-Pacific strategy customized to contain and confront China.

What Sherman has taken back home, including the world's take from her trip to China, should prompt the Biden administration to reflect on its China policy. It should require no more such meetings to make it realize that China will neither succumb to its coercion nor follow rules drawn up by the US.

If it continues to bet on its misjudgment of the situation, and act accordingly, not only the interests of the US but those of the whole world will be at stake.

Washington should recognize that the two lists and three redlines are the remedy Beijing is prescribing to restore bilateral ties to health.