Beijing (TDI): Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Friday that mutual respect is the basic principle of state-to-state interactions and an important prerequisite for China-US ties.
At a press conference on the margins of the two sessions in Beijing, Wang Yi was asked that US President Donald Trump has returned to the White House and immediately has imposed new tariffs on China over fentanyl and at the same time, he wants to build a good relationship with China, how differently Beijing will engage with the Trump administration over the next four years compared with Trump’s first term.
In response, Wang said that one should not fantasize that it can suppress China and maintain good ties with us at the same time.
He said that such a “two-faced” approach not only undermines the stability of bilateral ties but also fails to build mutual trust between the two countries.
On the fentanyl issue, Wang emphasized that China has consistently taken a firm stance against drug trafficking and production, and is one of the nations with the strictest and most thorough anti-drug policies in the world today.
As early as 2019, at the request of Washington, China became the first nation in the world to schedule all fentanyl-related substances as a class, he said.
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The abuse of fentanyl in the United States is a problem that must be confronted and resolved by the US itself, he added.
In the spirit of humanity, China has provided different forms of help to the US, and “the Washington should not return good with evil, or even impose arbitrary tariffs,” which is not the behavior of a responsible major power, Wang said.
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He further said that “if one’s action fails, look for the reason within oneself.”
“Washington should go over what has actually happened: What has it achieved from tariffs and trade wars these years? Has its trade deficit grown or shrunk?”.
