Global Times
March 14, 2022

China, US keep dialogue, but ‘no respect, no cooperation’
By Yang Sheng, Wan Lin and Wang Wenwen

Edited

China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi met US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in the Italian capital of Rome Monday to exchange views on China-US relations and other international and regional issues of common concern.

Chinese analysts said the US wants to use the Rome meeting to further pressure China to serve its sanctions against Russia, but China won’t be misguided, and they slammed Washington for its arrogance in bossing other countries to unconditionally follow its strategy while showing no respect to the core interests of others.

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The White House said in a statement on Sunday that the two sides will discuss ongoing efforts to manage the competition between the two countries and discuss the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on regional and global security.

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Lü Xiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that the issue of common concern for both China and the US now is the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. He highlighted that the key to this issue is the strategic confrontation between Russia and the US, or NATO.

With a potentially tense conflict between Russia and the US, it is critical for the US to understand China’s position, and China also wants to know how the US will play the game under the current situation, Lü noted.

The US might expect China to be a mediator with Russia, but the US should not try to create discord between China and Russia even if it is not capable of doing so, the expert said.

The US should calm down and take a more reasonable view of bilateral relations and the global order, and it should reconsider its approaches toward both China and Russia and learn that pressure, sanctions and provocations won’t solve any problems, but only make the US suffer more, Chinese experts said.

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No respect, no cooperation

According to CNN, Sullivan said on Sunday that Russia is concerned about China’s support after the West launched sanctions against Moscow. “

“We also are watching closely to see the extent to which China actually does provide any form of support, material support or economic support, to Russia. It is a concern of ours. And we have communicated to Beijing that we will not stand by and allow any country to compensate Russia for its losses from the economic sanctions,” Sullivan said.

Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations of China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times, “Obviously, the US is expecting China to do unconditionally what it says or it will punish China as well. This is totally opposite to the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation.”

The three principles were laid out by the Chinese side at the virtual summit between the two heads of state last year.

If the US keeps dealing with China in this way, the dialogue will be pointless and meaningless, and there is no chance that Washington will get what it wants from China, said Li, noting that this would be a tragedy of US diplomacy, and “we hope the US won’t mess up its ties with China like it did with Russia. It has made a huge mistake in dealing with Russia, and it’s making mistakes in dealing with China.”

Both China and Russia are aware of the US attempt to split them, but both sides have confidence and calmness to make the strategic partnership withstand the instigation from Washington, said analysts.

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The US is trying to force the international community to stand with it, and will not give any room for any other countries to remain neutral or stay away from joining Western sanctions and condemn Russia, just as China, India, Turkey, Israel and South Africa are doing, observers said.