US admits China poses most significant challenge amid Beijing's threat
NEW DELHI: A top Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Politburo Member has warned the new Joe Biden administration at the White House not to cross the "red line" and stop interference in the affairs of Hong Kong, Tibet and Xinjiang.
In his first speech to an American audience since the Biden administration took office, Yang Jiechi, Director of the Office of the Central Committee for Foreign Affairs of the Politburo of the 19th CPC Central Committee, accused the previous Donald Trump administration of adopting "misguided policies against China" and plunging the relationship into its most difficult period since the establishment of diplomatic ties between both the nations.
A former foreign minister, Yang told an online gathering of the New York-based National Committee on United States-China Relations that China-US relations now stand at a key moment and both sides need to respect each other's histories, cultures and traditions, respect each other's core interests and major concerns, and respect each other's choices of political system and development path. He assured that China has no intention to challenge or replace the US position in the world, or to carve out a sphere of influence. Likewise, he said, China expects the United States to honor its commitment under the three Sino-US Joint Communiques, strictly abide by the One China principle, and respect China's position and concerns on the Taiwan question.
"The United States should stop interference in the affairs of Hong Kong, Tibet and Xinjiang, which all matter to China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and stop attempts to hold back China's development by meddling in China's internal affairs. History and reality have shown time and again that these issues concern China's core interests, national dignity, as well as the sentiments of its 1.4 billion people," Yang said in his address Monday.
"They constitute a redline that must not be crossed. Any trespassing would end up undermining China-US relations and the United States' own interests. We in China hope that the US side will fully understand the sensitivity of these issues and handle them with prudence, so as to avoid disruption or damage to mutual trust and cooperation," he added. Just before signing off last month, the Trump administration had on January 19 declared that China, under the direction and control of the CCP government, has committed genocide against the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had said that he believed that this genocide is ongoing, and that the world is witnessing the systematic attempt to destroy Uyghurs by the Chinese party-state. (IANS)