Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi stated on Thursday that although there has been some progress since President Joe Biden and President Xi Jinping met in November last year, the US is still holding on to distorted perceptions about China and has not yet kept its "promises".
Wang said mutual respect and acknowledgement of differences are prerequisites for the continuation of bilateral relations between the two nations during a press conference held in conjunction with the Beijing annual parliament meeting.
Wang stated at the National People's Congress that it is important to note that the US side still has an incorrect impression of China and that the promises it has made have not actually been fulfilled.
According to him, there is a continuous expansion of unilateral sanctions and a continuous renewal of methods to suppress China.
Wang said that the "crimes" that the United States wanted to include in the list of supposed crimes of China have come to an absurd extent.
However, Wang noted that Biden had made it obvious that the US would not support Taiwan's independence, seek to alter the Chinese system, or start a new Cold War.
In an annual talk covering a wide range of topics, including Europe, China's faltering economy, artificial intelligence, relations with Russia, and the situation in Ukraine, Wang struck a reasonably moderate tone.
Wang announced that China would forward a proposal for a resolution on artificial intelligence to the UN General Assembly, which would balance the need for both security and development.
He said that humans should always be in control of AI.
Uneasy detente
Although there has been a minor reduction in tensions between the two countries since Biden and Xi's historic meeting in San Francisco in November last year, they are still in an uneasy detente before this year's US election, which may see Republican China critic Donald Trump win.
Washington has expressed a wish to restore some stability to the relationship, which reached a low point last year due to trade, tech competition, Taiwan, and an alleged Chinese spying balloon that the US shot down off its east coast.
China claims that the US is attempting to restrain and suppress its industrial and high-tech developments, and both armies are keeping a close eye on each other as their deployments around East Asia increase.
Thus, China urges the United States to learn about the historical development trend, look at China's development rationally and honestly, and interact with China in an active and pragmatic manner.
Beijing is also engaged in geopolitical conflicts on a number of fronts, such as trade and the conflict in Ukraine with Europe, disputes over a range of problems with Japan, and disputes with the Philippines regarding the South China Sea, a region filled with conflicting territorial claims.
Wang said that China is prepared to collaborate with Russia in order to strengthen friendships and develop new possibilities for cooperation. The two countries announced "no limits" cooperation when Putin visited Beijing, a few days before he dispatched tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine and started the bloodiest land war since World War II.
Wang also declared that starting on March 14, citizens of Switzerland, Austria, Ireland, Hungary,Belgium, and Luxembourg would be able to enter China without a visa. There are now 22 nations with which China has reciprocal visa waiver agreements, most notably Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore.
China has also unilaterally granted 15 days of visa-free entry to nationals of countries like Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands. The five European countries have yet to reciprocate with such an agreement for Chinese citizens.
