China slams Mike Pompeo's anti-China rhetoric

Beijing: China on Thursday slams U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's improper remarks on China-U.S. relations, urging him to abandon outdated Cold War mindset.

In his speech at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library on July 23, Pompeo claimed that the U.S. foreign policy towards China since the establishment of their relations is an "old paradigm of blind engagement" which won't bring the U.S. a free 21st century. Wang Wenbin, spokesman of China's Foreign Ministry, blasted Pompeo's claims with three main points during a press briefing in Beijing, denouncing Pompeo as not respecting the history and fact.

"First, the so-called theory of 'failed engagement between China and the U.S.' does not respect the history, nor is it in line with the facts. It has been nearly 50 years since China and the U.S. restored their relations, during which the two countries continued to expand and deepen exchanges and cooperation in all fields, bringing great benefits to the people of the two countries.

Statistics shows that China-U.S. economic and trade relations are supporting 2.6 million jobs in the U.S. Over 72,500 American enterprises are making investment and doing business in China. In the aspect of multilateral activities, such as dealing with regional hotspot issues and global issues, including combating terrorism and preventing the spread of mass destruction weapons, China and the U.S. have jointly made a lot of major achievements which not only benefited the two countries, but also the whole world," said Wang.

In his second point, Wand stressed that no one can interfere in other countries' decision on development path, believing China and the U.S. could manage to achieve coexistence despite their difference. "Second, the so-called theory of 'changing China with the U.S. influence' is doomed to fail. The path taken by each country is based on its own cultural traditions and history, and should be determined by its own people. No force is qualified to deny the path chosen by other countries. The world is full of variety. Though China and the U.S. are different in social systems, we can still achieve mutual development and peaceful coexistence," said Wang.

Wang also pointed out that the actions of people like Pompeo are actually serving their own ends and not welcomed even in the United States. "Third, people like Pompeo are denying the China-related policies of previous U.S. administrations in over 40 years and the progresses made in bilateral relations, so as to serve their own ends and provoke ideological conflicts, which is even unpopular within the United States. For days, many former U.S. politicians, U.S. scholars and media have been questioning and criticizing Pempeo's speech, saying that he has a wrong understanding of China, China-U.S. relations, and the objectives of the U.S. policy towards China. The problem is quite obvious," said Wang.

He urges Pompeo to abandon his outdated mindset towards China and help bring China-U.S. relations back to the normal track. "China-U.S. relations have a great bearing on the well-being of the people of the two countries as well as the stability of the world. We urge people like Pompeo to discard their outdated Cold War mindset and ideological prejudices, view China and China-U.S. relations in a correct manner, stop actions that harm China's interests and damage China-U.S. relations, and create essential conditions for the relations between the two countries to return to the normal track," said Wang.