During a telephone conversation, Foreign Minister Wang Yi stressed to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken the need to exercise restraint and avoid actions that would further exacerbate tensions.

“The United States recently launched the so-called new version of the Indo-Pacific Strategy, publicly named China as the main regional challenge and tried to include the strategy of using Taiwan to contain China in the regional strategy (…) which is obviously sending a wrong signal of siege and containment against China,” he said.

The Chinese Foreign Minister said that bilateral relations cannot be defined simply by competition, regretted the hostile stance of many U.S. officials and warned that if such an approach persists, an evolution “towards a complete confrontation between China and the United States” is likely.

He called on Washington to take concrete steps to honor the commitments made by President Joe Biden and advocated that it remain faithful to the aspiration to break the ice, return to a rational and pragmatic perception of Beijing and put ties back on the path of their healthy and stable development.

According to an official note, Blinken said that the White House did not change the position put forward by the U.S. president and is ready to handle differences responsibly.

In addition, during the contact both dignitaries exchanged congratulations on the performance of their athletes in the recent Beijing 2022 winter games.

They reviewed and shared their countries’ positions on the situation in Ukraine and the Korean Peninsula.

In both cases, Wang urged the parties involved to stick to international treaties, maintain consultations and promote a political resolution that takes into account the concerns of those most affected.

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