Mutual respect urged in China-US ties

Senior diplomat says bilateral relations should be based on working together

The United States does not have the qualification to be "condescending" when speaking to China as the Chinese people will never accept this, and the US should work together with China and avoid confrontation, senior diplomat Yang Jiechi said.

Mutual respect is a basis for dealing with China, said Yang, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, at the bilateral high-level strategic dialogue in Anchorage, Alaska, on Thursday (local time).

The opening of the dialogue, covered by media from the two countries, witnessed a rare exchange of harsh remarks between the two sides.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan made unreasonable attacks on China's domestic and foreign policies, including human rights and issues related to the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

In response, Yang said that history will prove that any attempt to suppress and contain China "will backfire in the end".

The US has yet to deal with its own human rights and other problems, and should stop finger-pointing over China's human rights and democracy, Yang said.

"I don't think the overwhelming majority of countries in the world would recognize the universal values advocated by the US or that the viewpoint of the US could represent international public opinion," he added.

Confrontation with China does not serve the US well, while the two countries have achieved a lot together since they established diplomatic relations, Yang said, and urged Washington to ramp up communication and tackle differences.