US needs to scratch China's back if it wants its own back scratched: China Daily editorial

Tensions on the border between Ukraine and Russia was one of the priorities for US Secretary of State Antony Blinken when speaking with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday, apparently in the hope that China would be able to act as a mediator to de-escalate the crisis.

Wang hit that ball firmly back into the US court, emphasizing that the Ukraine issue should be resolved through all stakeholders returning to the Minsk Agreement that Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France signed in the capital of Belarus in 2015.

Thanks to that pact, which was recognized by the United Nations Security Council as a fundamental political document on the issue, tensions in the east of Ukraine were effectively eased back then.

That's why Wang stressed that China supports all efforts in line with the agreement, which prioritizes a cease-fire and both sides pulling back their heavy weapons. He called upon all the relevant parties to remain calm and avoid doing anything that might escalate tensions and exaggerate and sensationalize the crisis.

Wang made it clear that one country's security should not come at the cost of the security of other countries, and a region's stability should not be put at risk by militarization.

Those words should have resonated with Blinken given the US' ramping up of its military might in the South China Sea.

Seemingly trying to prove the point that the Chinese Foreign Ministry repeatedly makes — that it is dropping a stone on its own foot by militarizing the region — a US Navy combat jet conducting exercises in the South China Sea dropped more heavily than intended onto the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson in the South China Sea on Monday, injuring the pilot, who managed to eject, and seven sailors.

For Wang, therefore, the priority topic for discussion was the United States' China policy, which, despite US President Joe Biden asserting in the video summit with President Xi Jinping in mid-November that the US is not intent on conflict or confrontation with China, seems aimed at starting a new Cold War with China, if not a hot one.

Biden claimed that the US does not intend to change China's system, is not trying to contain China by strengthening its alliances, does not support Taiwan secessionists and is willing to cooperate with China.

Ironically, although Blinken told Wang that the stance expounded by Biden in the video summit remains unchanged, the US administration has been doing exactly the opposite of what it professes to be doing, exposing the sham of its urging that the two sides erect "guardrails" for their relations.

That's why Wang urged the US to stop disturbing the Beijing Winter Olympics, playing with fire on the Taiwan question and building all kinds of cliques to contain China.

With the administration unwilling, or unable, to demonstrate the sincerity of its words, the good wishes its top diplomat expressed for the Games and Spring Festival ring hollow.