China, US prepare for Blinken's key visit

China said on Friday that the door to dialogue with the United States is always open, emphasizing at the same time that communication needs to address the concerns of both sides and effectively solve problems.

Communications between Beijing and Washington have never stopped, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said, adding that it is unacceptable to ask for communication while doing damage to the other side's interests.

One should not say one thing and do another, Wang said.

The comments came just two days before US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to Beijing. He will be the highest-ranking US government official to visit China since US President Joe Biden took office in January 2021.

In a pre-trip briefing on Wednesday, US officials said they "will seek to manage the competition" and "maintain consistent, clear and open lines of communication" with China. They also said they have no expectations that the trip will yield a breakthrough in how the US and China deal with each other.

Wang said at a daily news conference, "It is a severe misjudgment made by the US to view China as the primary competitor and the most consequential geopolitical challenge."

He said there is some competition between China and the US in the fields of economics and trade, but the two countries should not engage in vicious competition that leads to a zero-sum game.

It is not acceptable to use competition as a pretext for containment and suppression, which deprives China of its legitimate right to development, said Wang.

Wang reiterated that China and the US should form a correct perception of each other's domestic and foreign policies and strategic intentions.

Beijing and Washington must develop relations on the basis of mutual respect and equality, Wang said, urging the US not to fantasize about dealing with China from a "position of strength".

He called on the two countries to respect their differences in history, culture, social systems and development paths, and accommodate each other's core interests and major concerns.

The US should work with China to remove obstacles and create conditions to gradually bring bilateral relations back on track for stable development, he said.