China is ready to talk to the US about their escalating trade dispute, but “if they want to fight we will fight” and it would not be a fight for China alone, but for an open international economy, China’s new Ambassador to the UN Zhang Jun (張軍) said on Friday.
Zhang told reporters that US sanctions and increasing tariffs hurt China and the world, but they are also “not in the long-term interest of the United States,” where consumers would be paying higher prices.
His comments followed US President Donald Trump’s tweets on Thursday escalating the trade spat with an announcement that on Sept. 1 the US would impose 10 percent tariffs on all Chinese imports that have not already been hit with tariffs of 25 percent.
Photo: AP
China on Friday responded that it would take “necessary countermeasures” if Trump follows through.
Zhang called Trump’s latest tariff threat “an irrational, irresponsible act” and reiterated that if the US goes ahead on Sept. 1, “we definitely will take whatever necessary countermeasures to protect our fundamental rights.”
He would not give any details, but stressed that China would also be fighting “for free trade, for an open, non-discriminatory and reliable multilateral trading system.”
In the wide-ranging and rare meeting with reporters by a Chinese ambassador, Zhang said Beijing would “stand firmly with the United Nations” at this difficult moment when the world faces instability and many uncertainties.
China would also continue promoting peace through diplomatic and political dialogue and would “work hard in defending interests of developing countries,” he said.
Zhang said China would never allow any interference in its internal affairs, especially on issues related to the Xinjiang region, which has a large Muslim population, Tibet, where the Dalai Lama has called for genuine autonomy, and Hong Kong, where pro-democracy protests have been taking place since early June.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has lashed out at China’s human rights record, saying last month that Beijing was responsible for the “stain of the century” of rights abuses, citing the detention of an estimated 1 million Muslim Uighurs, Kazakhs and other minorities who are believed to be held in internment camps in Xinjiang.
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