China’s US ambassador warns on ‘red lines’ ahead of Trump, Xi meeting

China’s ambassador to the US warned on Wednesday that the country has “red lines” on Taiwan, human rights and other issues that cannot be crossed, ahead of this week’s meeting in Washington between the two countries’ leaders.

Chinese president Xi Jinping will visit Washington for a summit with president Donald Trump, as both sides look to bring stability to ties overshadowed by arguments over everything from trade to Taiwan.

Writing in the ruling Communist Party’s official People’s Daily, ambassador Xie Feng said managing differences hinges on good faith, and the US should stop “fabricating pretexts” such as national security, economic imbalances and forced labour to try to and constrain China.

When China and the US cooperate, both benefit, but when they confront each other, both suffer, he added.

“China’s sovereignty, security, and development interests cannot be violated, and four red lines – the Taiwan question, democracy and human rights, development paths and systems, and development rights – cannot be challenged,” Xie said.

“China is committed to pursuing peaceful development and hopes the US will move toward this as well.”

China claims democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory, despite the objections of the government in Taipei. The US is Taiwan’s most important arms supplier and international backer despite the lack of formal ties.

Xie said that top-level diplomacy is the “steady hand” of China-US relations and differences are not to be feared.

A separate commentary on Wednesday in the same newspaper said the US’s “erroneous” perceptions of China and its inability to let go of the notion of strategic competition are the basic causes of their recent difficult relationship.

“In recent years, the tortuous path China-US relations have travelled clearly shows the US’s erroneous perceptions of China and its unwillingness to let go of the notion of ‘strategic competition’ are the fundamental cause of recurring difficulties,” said the commentary, without offering details.

Both sides should cherish the favourable momentum that has come at “great cost, maintain the right direction, and eliminate interference”, said the article, published under the pen name “Zhong Sheng”, meaning “Voice of China” and used to give views on foreign policy.

“The US side, in particular, needs to maintain continuity and stability in its policies, honour its commitments, and inject certainty into bilateral relations,” it added.

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