Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang warned Tuesday that China and the US are headed for "conflict and confrontation" if Washington doesn't alter its direction.
Qin's tough words at his first press conference since entering office late last year seemed to contradict forecasts that China may forsake its muscular "wolf warrior" approach in favor of more mild rhetoric as the two countries clash over trade, technology, Taiwan, human rights, and the Russia Ukraine war.
On the sidelines of Beijing's rubber-stamp legislature's annual conference, Qin told journalists that Washington's China policy had "entirely deviated" from a reasonable and "sound" path, AP News reported.
Qin, whose new role is junior to the leading foreign policy official of the Chinese Communist Party, Wang Yi, warned that "If the United States does not hit the brake, but continues to speed down the wrong path, no amount of guardrails can prevent derailing and there surely will be conflict and confrontation,"
He also underscored that the US-China conflict is a "reckless gamble" that puts the basic interests of the two nations and potentially the "future of humanity" on the line.
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Tensions Keep Rising
Recently, the US-China conflict has risen to new heights.
China's autocratic leader Xi Jinping has also encouraged a more aggressive foreign policy as the country seeks to expand its influence and compete with the West.
Washington has strongly responded.The Biden administration has strengthened connections with allies and partners to counter Beijing's growing influence, especially in its backyard, CNN reported.
The US has also worked to break China's stranglehold on innovation by restricting the export of high-tech semiconductors, which has enraged Beijing.
Qin criticized the United States for its Indo-Pacific policy, saying that the United States is trying to build exclusive blocks in order to trigger conflict, that it supports decoupling, and that it is planning an "Asia-Pacific version of NATO."
Beijing, though, has strongly denied Washington's claims that it is contemplating supplying Russia with weaponry and artillery to assist in its war against Ukraine, as per a report from NBC News.
The Chinese official also renewed his calls for a diplomatic solution to the Russia-Ukraine war. However, Beijing's 12-point peace plan last month was rejected by Western diplomats as too advantageous to Moscow.
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