China sees ‘no limit’ in developing strategic ties with Russia in 2021

China has expressed strong determination to continue strategic ties with Russia in the year ahead, with the Chinese foreign minister saying Beijing sees “no limit” as to how far the cooperation between the two sides can reach.

"The year 2021 is a year of special importance for China-Russia relations, as both countries will enter a new development stage,” Wang Yi said in an interview with Xinhua news agency and other state media outlets on Saturday.

“In developing China-Russia strategic cooperation, we see no limit, no forbidden zone and no ceiling to how far this cooperation can go,” he added.

The top Chinese diplomat hailed “good neighborly relations” between Russia and China, and said the development of bilateral ties has been highlighted by the leaders of the two countries on multiple occasions over the past year.

"Being each other's strategic anchor, diplomatic priority, development opportunity and global partner, the two countries will expand and deepen cooperation from a higher starting point." 

“Together, China and Russia will continue to be the example of good neighborly and friendly relations between major countries, add impetus to global recovery, and underpin global strategic stability."

Bilateral ties with US at 'new crossroads'

Elsewhere in the interview, the Chinese foreign minister expressed optimism about the restoration of bilateral ties between the United States and China under the upcoming administration, saying Beijing’s relationship with Washington has reached a “new crossroads” and could get back on the right track.

The Chinese side hopes the next US administration will return to a sensible approach, resume dialogue with China, restore normalcy to the bilateral relations and restart cooperation, Wang said. 

"China-US relations have come to a new crossroads, and a new window of hope is opening," Wang said, adding that recent US policies towards China had harmed the interests of both countries and brought huge dangers to the world.

The top Chinese diplomat called on Washington to “respect the social system and development path” chosen by Beijing, stressing that if the US “learns lessons,” the conflicts between the two sides could be resolved.

"We believe that as long as the United States can draw lessons from the past and work with China in the same direction, the two countries are capable of resolving differences through dialogue and expanding converging interests by cooperation," he noted.

Some damage to Sino-US ties ‘beyond repair,’ Chinese media warn

China

Wang also said China-US relationship faced “unprecedented difficulties” over the past years and that it all comes down to the serious misconceptions of US policymakers about China since they see Beijing as the so-called biggest threat.

“We know some people in the United States are apprehensive about China’s rapid development, but the most sustainable leadership is to constantly move forward yourself, rather than block the development of other countries,” he added.

Underlining that China's policy toward Washington is consistent and stable, Wang said, "We are ready to develop with the United States a relationship based on coordination, cooperation and stability."

He also responded to American politicians that had accused China of covering up the outbreak of Covid-19 during its early stages, saying Beijing had done its utmost to combat the virus’s spread by “sounding the alarm” for the rest of the world.

Under US President Donald Trump, relations between China and the US, the world's two largest economies, have sunk to the lowest point in decades.

The US and China are currently at loggerheads over a host of issues, including trade, a new security law introduced in Hong Kong, the origins and handling of the COVID-19 disease, Taiwan, and the disputed South China Sea.

The fate of restoring normalcy to US-China ties remains murky as US President-elect Joe Biden has made clear that he will not remove existing tariffs set by his predecessor against China for now.

Moreover, Biden recently said that Washington needs to build a coalition of like-minded nations to confront Beijing.

To counter China and Russia, Biden has said he will strengthen alliances

President-elect has committed to a new industrial policy to compete from a position of strength at home.

China rebuffs latest Taiwan offer of talks

In a separate development, China rejected on Friday the latest offer of talks from Taiwan, saying Taipei was engaging in a “cheap trick” and provocation by seeking confrontation with China at any time.

Offering an olive branch to Beijing in her New Year’s speech, Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen said earlier in the day that Taipei was ready to have “meaningful” talks with China as equals as long as they were willing to put aside confrontation.

Responding to the offer, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said there was no way of changing the reality that the breakaway island was part of China and the refusal of Taiwan’s government to accept that was the root cause of present tensions.

Since 2016, Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) “has continued to provoke by seeking independence, confronting the mainland at every turn, deliberately creating confrontation across the Taiwan Strait,” the office said.

“They again talked about so-called ‘dialogue,’ but where can that come from?” the office added. “We urge the DPP authorities to stop it with these cheap tricks that dupe people.”

Tsai, who has been seeking closer ties with Washington since his re-election last year, has repeatedly claimed that Taiwan is already an independent country called the Republic of China, its formal name.

China calls on US to halt expansion of ties with Taiwan

China calls on the United States to halt its expansion of ties with Taiwan, after Washington and Taipei declared they would hold economic talks later this month.

China, which considers Taiwan as a breakaway province that should be reunited with the mainland, firmly opposes any relations between Washington and Taipei.

Under the internationally-recognized “One China” policy, almost all world countries — including the US — recognize Chinese sovereignty over the self-ruled island.

But the US has been courting Taiwan in an attempt to unnerve Beijing. Washington almost regularly makes provocative moves around the self-governed island, particularly by sailing its warships through the sensitive and strategic Taiwan Strait, which separates Taiwan from mainland China.

Washington is also the island’s largest weapons supplier and an avid backer of Taiwan’s secessionist president Tsai Ing-wen.

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