BEIJING (Reuters) – The Chinese government’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, said on Sunday that Beijing is willing to communicate with the United States on the basis of mutual respect and hopes Washington will remove all “unreasonable” restrictions on cooperation as soon as possible.
Last week U.S. President Joe Biden singled out a “growing rivalry with China” as a key challenge facing the United States, with his top diplomat describing the Asian country as “the biggest geopolitical test” of this century.
State Councillor Wang, speaking at his annual news conference, said differences between China and the United States must be managed carefully and that the two sides must advocate healthy competition not zero-sum finger-pointing.
The United States and China are at odds over influence in the Indo-Pacific region, Beijing’s economic practices, Hong Kong, Taiwan and human rights in China’s Xinjiang region.
The Biden administration has indicated it will broadly continue a tough approach to China taken by former President Donald Trump, but do so in coordination will allies.
Biden wants to signal a break with Trump’s “America First” approach by re-engaging with allies and focussing on multilateral diplomacy, while also recognising the world has changed since he served in the Obama administration that preceded Trump.
(Reporting by Gabriel Crossley; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by William Mallard)
