BEIJING – China’s foreign ministry on Friday accused US Secretary of State Antony Blinken of “smearing” the country, after America’s top diplomat delivered a landmark policy speech calling for action to counterbalance Beijing’s influence.
In the most comprehensive statement to date on China by US President Joe Biden’s administration, Blinken said Thursday the Asian power posed “the most serious long-term challenge to the international order”.
China has faced a chorus of warnings from the United States and Western allies in recent days over its growing influence and global ambitions.
Blinken warned Thursday of China’s “intent to reshape the international order” and called on countries to defend the status quo.
He also accused Beijing of raising tensions over Taiwan — a self-ruled island China claims as its territory — and said Beijing has “cut off Taiwan’s relations with countries around the world and (is) blocking it from participating in international organisations”.
Beijing hit out angrily at the speech on Friday, saying it “spreads false information, exaggerates the China threat, interferes in China’s internal affairs and smears China’s domestic and foreign policies”.
Foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters according to AFP that China “firmly opposed” the speech and it showed Washington sought to “contain and suppress China’s development and maintain US hegemony and power”.
The United State recently launched a loose new trade framework across Asia and has set up a forum with the European Union to set technological standards.
The efforts are aimed at uniting like-minded nations as China dominates new fields, such as artificial intelligence.
Blinken acknowledged a growing consensus that other nations cannot change the trajectory of China, saying that under President Xi Jinping it has become “more repressive at home, more aggressive abroad”.
“There is growing convergence about the need to approach relations with Beijing with more realism,” he said.
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