On the afternoon of July 6, Beijing time, after a long period of warm-up, US Treasury Secretary Yellen's special plane landed at Beijing Airport, and less than 20 days after Blinken's visit to China, China welcomed a senior US minister. As the second US minister to visit China during the Biden administration, Yellen's words and deeds have attracted great attention from the outside world. In terms of its performance at the airport, it is clearly different from Blinken, who visited China before.
I believe many people remember that during his visit to China, Blinken maintained a high degree of tension and seriousness, without a trace of relaxation and pleasure. In stark contrast, Yellen herself is warm and passionate. Just after stepping out of the aircraft door, it is a wave to greet the greeter. After walking down the gangway, Yellen shook hands warmly with the Chinese Ministry of Commerce official who picked him up, still smiling, and then the two talked in low voices.
Over the rainy Beijing, a beautiful rainbow unexpectedly appeared, and Chinese officials signaled Yellen to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the sky. Some media interpreted that this is a kind reminder of China's kindness to the United States, which means that as long as the United States is sincere and walks with China, it can rain and sun.
Although Yellen's demeanor is more acceptable to the Chinese people than Blinken, just before his visit to China, China and the United States were not as calm as imagined, the US Department of Commerce and the Treasury Department launched three rounds of sanctions against China within three consecutive days, under the pressure of the United States, the Netherlands introduced the "strictest in history" control measures against Chinese semiconductors, which shows that the US politicians represented by Blinken have not given up the strategy of containing China through blockade and suppression, confrontation and conflict are still the main tone of Sino-US relations.
In the face of US sanctions and suppression, China naturally needs to take targeted countermeasures and firmly defend its national interests. However, according to the diplomatic tradition of China's "country of etiquette", before the visit of distinguished guests, there is generally no direct counteraction, so as not to spoil the atmosphere of the meeting between the two sides. But this time, China's reaction was unusual, knowing that Yellen was about to visit China, and still dropped a counter-sledgehammer.
Recently, many departments in China issued an announcement announcing the implementation of export controls on gallium, germanium metals and their compounds from August 1 this year. In other words, in the future, if Chinese enterprises or individuals want to export gallium and germanium-related commodities, they must obtain permission and approval from the relevant departments, and violators will bear serious legal liabilities.
Some media analysis said that this move revealed that the Chinese government is not worried about the impact of countermeasures on the high-level meeting between China and the United States, and from a longer-term perspective, this means that China has changed a new way of playing in the long-term game with the United States, that is, China no longer attaches too much importance to the ideas and attitudes of the United States, and in the face of US sanctions and threats, China will immediately take targeted counterattacks, truly achieve "hitting snakes and hitting seven inches", so that the United States has strategic anxiety.
It must be emphasized that the reason why China did this is not to change the so-called "sheep diplomacy" to "wolf warrior diplomacy", nor does it mean that it has become completely aggressive and aggressive in foreign exchanges, but to adjust accordingly according to the international environment, especially the hegemonic style of the United States.
As a "country of etiquette", China has always upheld a kind, enthusiastic and positive side in international exchanges and maintained friendly relations with most countries in the world. Even in the face of the United States, which hypes up anti-China public opinion, China has done everything possible to maintain bilateral dialogue and communication. However, facts have proved that the United States has not appreciated the goodwill released by the Chinese side at all, and every time the news of the upcoming meeting between Chinese and US officials comes out, various US government departments always make harsh remarks early and adopt a series of bad practices that infringe on China's national interests and seriously damage Sino-US relations.
Not only that, US politicians continue to uphold a hegemonic style, and US sanctions against China are a legitimate move to safeguard "national security", and once China is forced to counteract, it will be labeled as a "threat to global economic stability". Wang Yi has said more than once that "the United States cannot stab a knife while talking about cooperation", and there is no such reason under the sky.
The important reason why the United States still uses "duplicitous" means to confront China is that the United States has reached a consensus at the top level, and Washington's pressure means are not enough at this stage, and believes that as long as the pressure is further advanced, China can make compromises with the United States. Under this unrealistic illusion, the US ruling class collectively adheres to the wrong perception of China, which has led to the stalemate in Sino-US relations at this stage.
After China changes its new style of play, it is very likely that the United States will recognize the current situation at an early date. As for whether the United States can reshape its comprehensive and three-dimensional understanding of China and promote changes in Sino-US relations, only time will tell.