U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken began his visit to China today.
What is different from the past is that before every important diplomatic event, the United States has to throw out a bunch of questions or create some incidents as bargaining chips in negotiations with China, so as to put pressure on China and put conditions on China.
They never imagined that the tricks of the United States are not their unique magic weapon, not to mention that Blinken's visit to China was an arrangement determined by the phone call between the two heads of state, and China also treated others in the same way, and before Blinken left, China concocted a red line against him.
Before Blinken's visit, the United States unsurprisingly threw out a lot of topics to put pressure on China in terms of economy and trade, the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, and Sino-Russian relations, hoping to build momentum for themselves and put pressure on China.
First of all, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the mainland drew a red line.
First, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin set the scope for the visit. Wang Wenbin said that Secretary Blinken's visit to China is part of the implementation of the consensus reached at the San Francisco summit between China and the United States, maintaining dialogue, managing differences, advancing cooperation, and strengthening coordination in international affairs. China and the United States will exchange views on China-US relations and international and regional issues of common concern, focusing on the implementation of the important consensus reached at the San Francisco meeting and the recent phone call between the two heads of state.
Secondly, the head of the Department of North America and Oceania of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs gave a background briefing to the media on the visit. Before Blinken left, he made it clear that China is mainly focused on the five major goals, and unceremoniously and-for-tat drew a circle for Blinken on relevant issues, which is tantamount to telling him: what can be discussed, what cannot be discussed, what is China's position on what issues, and the topic beyond this boundary, Blinken, you should stop early!
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has set the tone for China-US relations: China and the United States should be based on the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation, and value peace, stability and trust. He stressed that China and the United States cannot refrain from interacting and dealing with each other, let alone conflict and confrontation. At the same time, the US must realize that it cannot communicate for the sake of communication, cannot say one thing and do another, and should not have any illusions about dealing with China from a so-called "position of strength".
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly criticized the U.S. repressive measures in the economic, trade, and technological fields, as well as new measures in export controls, investment reviews, and unilateral sanctions, believing that these actions violate the basic norms of fair competition and open cooperation in the market economy, and harm China's interests.
Regarding Blinken's attempt to put pressure on China on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs clearly pointed out that on the issue of the Ukraine crisis, China has always adhered to an objective and fair position, actively worked to promote peace talks, and upheld the right to normal economic and trade cooperation with Russia, and opposed any form of interference, restrictions, accusations and pressure.
Second, China has made it clear that it will not budge an inch on the South China Sea issue.
China firmly opposes US meddling in the South China Sea issue and sowing discord between China and ASEAN. China has indisputable sovereignty over Nanhai Zhudao and its adjacent waters, and is willing to continue to properly handle maritime issues with relevant parties through dialogue and consultation, so as to jointly safeguard peace and stability in the South China Sea. At the same time, China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests brook no infringement, and China's determination to safeguard its legitimate rights is unwavering. China and the United States have established a consultation mechanism on maritime affairs and Asia-Pacific affairs, and the two sides can continue dialogue. However, the United States is not a party to the South China Sea issue and should not intervene, let alone stir up trouble.
The mainland has not only reaffirmed and further demonstrated China's firm position on the South China Sea issue to the United States, but has also further stepped up containment efforts in response to some of the Philippines' recent small moves in the South China Sea.
Third, it will take countermeasures against the hegemonic behavior of the United States in the economic and trade fields.
It is mainly manifested in the response to the US Section 301 investigation and tariffs. The U.S. government announced that it will increase Section 301 tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum products to three times the current level.
On the evening of April 17, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce responded to a Section 301 investigation launched by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) into China's maritime, logistics and shipbuilding industries, as well as restrictions on steel and aluminum products against China. said that these actions of the United States lack factual basis and are contrary to economic common sense.
The series of exchanges that preceded Blinken's visit to China will today turn into a live confrontation at the negotiating table. We welcome Blinken's visit and we are willing to make every effort to ease and improve relations between the two countries, but if Blinken continues to put on an arrogant face and say something hegemonic logic, long-arm jurisdiction, and interference in the internal affairs of other countries, China will certainly not accept that.
From passively accepting and hastily responding to problems to being prepared, our major-country diplomacy has become more and more proactive, our hegemonic behavior of the United States has become clearer and clearer, and our thinking and methods for dealing with US brutal diplomacy have become more and more mature.
Last year, the extreme hype of a balloon incident caused Blinken to lose face, and this year's visit, China simply drew a red line in advance, and did not see any fire from Blinken, and had to accept it silently.
In this way, Sino-US relations have slowly changed amid the complex and ever-changing international situation and the manoeuvres of both sides. Blinken may realize in such constant collisions that if the hegemonic demons are not removed, the United States will not have good relations with any country, and this is especially true of China, which has a strong sense of sovereignty!