China Warns U.S. of 'Full-Scale Confrontation,' Talks Taiwan, Ukraine in Call

[beijingwalker]

China Warns U.S. of 'Full-Scale Confrontation,' Talks Taiwan, Ukraine in Call​

BY TOM O'CONNOR
ON 2/22/22 AT 5:12 AM EST

China has warned the U.S. that the two leading powers would be heading for all-out conflict if Washington pursues a purely competitive agenda toward Beijing, during a call in which top diplomats discussed the flashpoints of Taiwan and Ukraine.

The State Department first issued a brief readout late Tuesday revealing a call between Secretary of Staten Antony Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, with State Department spokesperson Ned Price saying the pair discussed "developments in the DPRK" and "Russia's aggression against Ukraine."

"The Secretary underscored the need to preserve Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity," Price said.

Identical language was used by Blinken himself in a tweet issued shortly afterward, as President Joe Biden's administration prepared to unveil further measures designed to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin for recognizing two separatist, self-proclaimed republics in eastern Ukraine's Donbas region and sending in peacekeepers in response to worsening violence that U.S. and Ukrainian have officials have alleged to be part of a "false flag" plot to justify Moscow's intervention.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry then released two separate reports of Wang and Blinken's call, the first of which dealt with bilateral relations.

Wang called for the implementation of the "consensus" reached by the two countries' leaders in their calls over the past year and a virtual summit in November.

"China is willing to effectively manage differences and stabilize Sino-U.S. relations in line with the three principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation put forward by President Xi Jinping," Wang said.

He criticized the Biden administration's release earlier this month of an "Indo-Pacific Strategy" that Wang said "publicly listed China as the top regional challenge, and tried to include the strategy of 'using Taiwan to contain China' into the U.S. regional strategy, which is obviously sending a wrong signal of beleaguering and containing China."

China has vowed to reunify with Taiwan ever since the Communist Party won China's civil war in 1949, forcing nationalists to form a government-in-exile of the self-ruling island. Washington's political ties and military assistance have increased in recent years as relations with Beijing soured, raising tensions between the U.S. and China.

"There is competition and cooperation between China and the United States," Wang said. "We cannot simply use competition to define bilateral relations."

"Some U.S. officials have advocated a long-term and fierce competition with China, which is likely to evolve into a full-scale confrontation between China and the United States," he added. "China once again urges the United States to take concrete actions to reflect the series of commitments made by President Biden."

Noting the 50th anniversary later this week of the Shanghai Communiqué that marked the beginning of the U.S. breaking official ties with Taiwan, officially the Republic of China, and normalizing relations with the People's Republic, Wang said: "It is hoped that the U.S. side will review the original intention of China and the U.S. to break the ice, return to a rational and pragmatic understanding of China, and jointly push China-U.S. relations back to the right track of healthy and stable development."

As for Blinken, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said he reiterated Biden's pledge that "the United States does not seek to engage in a new Cold War, does not seek to change China's system, opposes 'Taiwan independence,' and has no intention of confrontation with China."

U.S. officials have expressed disappointment, however, in China's response to Russia's actions toward Ukraine as Beijing and Moscow only tightened their "comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for the new era."

In a joint statement following Xi and Putin's summit at the beginning of the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing earlier this month, the two countries vowed to work even more closely together on foreign policy, among other sectors, and it was said that "the Chinese side is sympathetic to and supports the proposals put forward by the Russian Federation to create long-term legally binding security guarantees in Europe."

And last week, as the Biden administration issued repeating warnings that Russia may invade despite Moscow's denials, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin called on the U.S. to "value and accommodate Russia's legitimate and reasonable concerns over security protection and play a constructive role for all parties to seek a political settlement to the Ukraine issue on the basis of the Minsk II agreement, rather than hype up and sensationalize the crisis and escalate tensions."

That same day, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, asked about the growing alignment of China and Russia, said he could not speak directly to "the strength of that alliance" but expressed concern over Beijing's approach.

"We did note with alarm China's tacit approval of Putin's activities here in the region," Austin said at the time. "So I'm not sure that we can make any kind of a direct inference from what you just raised, but certainly, those are things that we'll continue to watch going forward."

China Warns of 'Full-Scale Confrontation,' Talks Taiwan, Ukraine in Call

"We cannot simply use competition to define bilateral relations." Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was said to have told Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

www.newsweek.com

 

[mhosein]

I recall the incident that had taken place over the skies, just 70 miles off the coast of Hainan Island Province of China. Reading the headline, I could've believed it was an April Fool's prank, on the international stage as the incident occurred on the 1st of April 2001. A PLAAF combat aircraft intercepted an American EP-3 Aries ll ELINT plane. In the ensuing confrontation, the PLAAF interceptor aircraft collided with the American spy plane, resulting in the loss of the PLAAF interceptor aircraft and it's pilot. As tragic as the loss of life of the Chinese fighter pilot was, the resultant damage to the American spy plane, forced it to land on Chinese territory. What followed, was a decisive moment in history, where the world saw a country stand up to a hegemonic power, drunk on power and waging wars left, right and center, around the globe.

The Americans had requested the Chinese for the return of it's spy plane and its crew, that had to land in China due to the unfortunate mid-air collision. The People's Republic of China, however, saw it differently. Where the U.S Navy spy plane was on a SIGINT mission, at 70 miles off Chinese territory, spying on China. From its perspective, China had every right to dive into the U.S Navy's specialized spy plane, take it apart and study it. After all, it China who was being spied upon by America. The latter however was furious to receive a defiant response from China. The Americans couldn't absorb the shock to their system. As the world's sole superpower, that were used to nations cowarding away from it, to avoid confrontation. And with good reason, the world has seen what America had done to Iraq in the Gulf War and to Serbia in the Yugoslav War.

The incident was humiliating for America, the same America that touts it's exceptionalism, around the world. As China returned the U.S Navy spy plane, after taking it apart and carefully studying the aircraft down to it's nuts n bolts. And so, it marked the point in history, when America first experienced it's first push back by a nation, that doesn't take orders from no one.

The response from China as an eye opener. As it was not a few years prior, that Japan submitted to American demands, that it permit import of American Rice. Anyone who is Pacific Asian, knows the importance of Rice for that region. Yet the second largest economy of the world, at the time, could not oppose foreign rice in the face of American pressure.

So today, when America attempts to cling on to it's supremacy and is challenged, then blocked by Russia and China. Is time for the Americans to stand up and take notice, the writing is on the wall, and there is no place to run.