Flags of China and USA – illustration photo.
Washington – The United States does not want to separate its economy from China's, nor does it intend to oppress China, a US State Department spokesman said. He was responding to accusations coming from Beijing. Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Kang said on Tuesday that the United States is calling for “setting limits” in relation to China and that Washington must “step on the brakes” to avoid conflict with China.
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“We have made it clear that we are not trying to contain China or start a new Cold War,” a ministry spokesman told CNBC. He pointed to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's comments last year that the United States was not trying to stop China from its economic rise or from “advancing the interests of its people”. “He also said that we do not want to separate China's economy from ours, although China is seeking asymmetric separation,” the spokesman added.
Blinken previously defined asymmetric separation as “trying to make China less dependent on the world and the world more dependent on China”. Beijing has stepped up efforts to boost its self-sufficiency in technology and food supplies. The country remains a major, if not the largest, trading partner for much of the world, from Taiwan to Singapore, Germany and the US. The Biden administration tightened restrictions late last year on the ability of American businesses and individuals to work with Chinese partners on high-end semiconductors. According to the media, the administration is considering limits on American investments in advanced Chinese technologies, especially military ones.
Tensions between the US and China have escalated in recent years. As a sign of a certain stabilization of relations, Chinese President Xi Jinping met US President Joe Biden in person last November. But when a Chinese balloon appeared over the U.S. that the Americans called a spy, the incident prompted Blinken to postpone his trip to Beijing in February. China criticized the decision, saying it was a civilian balloon intended for meteorological observation.
