FM calls on Washington to honor its words on ties

The United States has continued acting and speaking wrongly against China, which has affected bilateral ties after the virtual summit between the two heads of state last year, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Thursday as he urged Washington not to interfere in the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics.

In a phone conversation with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Wang said that the US should also stop playing with fire over the Taiwan question and cease creating various small anti-China cliques.

Wang said the world can see Washington has made no substantial change to its China policy, even though US President Joe Biden told President Xi Jinping in November that the US was not seeking a "new Cold War" with China, or to strengthen its alliances to counter China or support "Taiwan independence".

Wang said pressing China will only make the Chinese people more united, and creating confrontations will not prevent China from getting stronger. He said the most important task for both sides is to put into practice the important consensus reached at the virtual summit.

As this year marks the 50th anniversary of the issuing of the Shanghai Communique－an important diplomatic document signed by China and the US during then US President Richard Nixon's visit to China－Wang said the premise of normalizing China-US relations was that both sides not attempt to change each other. This should also be the guarantee of future peaceful coexistence between the two countries, he added.

Faced with a new situation and new challenges in the post-pandemic era, competition between major countries will not help solve the problems faced by the US and other countries, Wang said. He called on China and the US to expand the positive aspects of bilateral cooperation and constructively manage their differences.

According to a Foreign Ministry news release, Blinken affirmed the significance of frequent communications between the foreign ministers and stressed there has been no change to the position Biden stated during the virtual summit.

The US is willing to manage differences in a responsible way and its one-China principle has not changed, Blinken said, adding that the US will cheer on its athletes competing in the Beijing Winter Olympics.

Blinken also briefed Wang on Washington's position regarding the Ukraine issue. Wang said that China calls on all parties to stay calm and refrain from doing things that agitate tension and play up the crisis.

Wang stressed the importance of returning to the new Minsk agreement, the starting point, in order to solve the Ukraine issue. The agreement, which was approved by the United Nations Security Council, is a fundamental political document recognized by all parties and should be effectively implemented, he said.

The original and new Minsk agreements, reached in September 2014 and February 2015 respectively, are the basis of the work of the Normandy format, the four-party diplomatic group which was set up to resolve the conflict in the Donbas region in Ukraine, Xinhua News Agency said.

Wang said as long as efforts are made in line with the direction and spirit of the new agreement, China will support them.

He told Blinken that one country's security cannot be at the expense of another's, and regional security cannot be guaranteed by strengthening or even expanding military blocs.

While a balanced, effective and sustainable European security mechanism should be established through negotiations, the reasonable security concerns of Russia should also be valued and solved, Wang said.

Members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are increasing military activities in Eastern Europe amid tensions regarding Ukraine, despite Russia warning that the strengthened NATO presence near its borders is a "national security threat".

Li Haidong, a professor of US studies at China Foreign Affairs University, said that the Ukraine issue was an important topic of the phone conversation. The US is once again showing it is taking a self-interested approach to its China policy, he said.

The main detail of the Ukraine issue is very clear, that is, that the US and NATO have completely overlooked respect for Russia and its status and interests during the establishment of a European security mechanism, Li said.

"It is contemptible that the US still takes it for granted that China should offer it assistance on issues concerning Washington's own interests while the US is competing and even confronting China on various topics," he said.