China urges U.S. to discard Cold-War mentality, ideological bias

Photo taken on Feb. 19, 2020 shows the Pentagon seen from an airplane over Washington D.C., the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

BEIJING, July 9 (Xinhua) -- China on Thursday urged the United States to discard its Cold-War mentality and ideological bias, and work with China to move forward bilateral relations along the track of coordination, cooperation and stability.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian made the comment at a press briefing in response to remarks by U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, who said "China and Russia constitute our top strategic competitors," and that "we established a China Strategy Management Group and I directed the National Defense University to refocus its curriculum by dedicating 50 percent of the coursework to the PRC."

"This U.S. official's remarks and the 2018 National Defense Strategy he mentioned are fundamentally flawed and run counter to the trend of the times as they preach nothing but obsolete concepts of a Cold-War mentality, a zero-sum game mindset, and hyped-up strategic competition between major countries," Zhao said.

China's policy toward the U.S. is consistent and clear, he said. "We are committed to working with the U.S. side for non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation. At the same time, we are firmly committed to safeguarding China's sovereignty, security and development interests."

China urges the U.S. to discard its Cold-War mentality and ideological bias, view the world and China-U.S. relations in the 21st century in a correct way, and work with China to move forward the bilateral relations along the track of coordination, cooperation and stability, Zhao said.