Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) on Friday offered cooperation on key priorities of US president-elect Joe Biden, warning that Beijing’s many US critics were creating an atmosphere of “McCarthyism” and ignoring common interests.
Taking aim at the hawkish approach of US President Donald Trump, Wang voiced hope for a return of talks and “mutual trust” between the world’s two largest economic powers after Biden takes over on Jan. 20.
“It is important that US policy toward China return to objectivity and sensibility as early as possible,” Wang said in a virtual address to the New York-based Asia Society.
Wang said that China saw “space for cooperation” with Biden on three of the four issues he has identified as immediate priorities — the COVID-19 pandemic, economic recovery and climate change.
Biden’s fourth stated priority is racial equity.
On the pandemic, Wang said China was ready to assist the US, including through continued production of masks, and said Beijing and Washington could cooperate in manufacturing vaccines and assisting third countries.
“We hope that we will expand cooperation and manage differences through dialogue,” Wang said.
In the past few months, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has terminated Chinese-funded exchange programs for Americans and tightened visa rules for Chinese students as well as members of the Chinese Communist Party and their families, likely affecting hundreds of millions of people.
“We see McCarthyism resurging and jeopardizing normal international exchanges,” Wang said, referring to the witch hunt for communists purported to be in the US government led by then-US senator Joe McCarthy following World War II.
Wang accused unnamed senior US officials of “irresponsible presumption of guilt and emotional lashing-out.”
“They ignore the vast common interests and room for cooperation between the two countries and insist that China is a main threat,” Wang said. “This is like misaligning the buttons on clothing. They get things wrong at the very beginning.”
Biden, who invested significant time in diplomacy with China as vice president, has broadly agreed that Beijing poses a global challenge.
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