U.S. "Indo-Pacific Strategy" bound to fail: Chinese FM

GUANGZHOU, May 22 (Xinhua) -- The United States' so-called "Indo-Pacific Strategy" is bound to fail, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Sunday.

Wang made the comment when meeting the press after talks with visiting Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou.

When asked about the so-called "Indo-Pacific Strategy" being vigorously promoted by the United States to contain China, Wang said, "The U.S. 'Indo-Pacific Strategy' is causing more and more vigilance and concern in the international community, especially in the Asia-Pacific region."

This is because the so-called strategy has given away its intention, not only attempting to erase the name "Asia-Pacific" and the effective regional cooperation architecture in the region, but also trying to erase the achievements and momentum of peaceful development created by the concerted efforts of countries in the region over the past decades, Wang said.

Wang said that the people of the Asia-Pacific still remember the conflicts and confrontations caused by hegemony, and they want national stability and a happy life, while countries within the region don't want to take sides and hope that countries can live together in harmony and pursue win-win cooperation.

The trend of the times in the region is to advance regional integration and build an Asia-Pacific community with a shared future, he said, noting that the 6.3 percent growth in Asia in 2021 has not come easily amid the pandemic, giving credit to the solidarity of regional countries and the hard work of the people.

Wang criticized the United States for creating the "Indo-Pacific Strategy" to form small cliques in the name of freedom and openness, noting its purpose is to contain China.

What is particularly dangerous is that the United States plays the "Taiwan card" and "South China Sea card" to bring chaos to the region, he said.

The facts will prove that the so-called "Indo-Pacific Strategy" is, in essence, a strategy of creating division, inciting confrontation and undermining peace. No matter how it is packaged or disguised, it will inevitably fail in the end, he said.

When answering a question on the U.S. so-called "Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF)," Wang said that China, like other countries in the region, welcomes initiatives that are conducive to strengthening regional cooperation, but opposes attempts to create division and confrontation.

Wang stated China's proposition on evaluating the so-called "IPEF":

Firstly, it should advocate free trade instead of pursuing protectionism. By withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the United States has gone to the opposite of free trade, Wang said, adding that what the United States should do is to follow the free-trade rules, rather than start something new and undermine the existing regional cooperation architecture.

Second, it should contribute to global economic recovery instead of undermining industrial-chain stability. Is the United States trying to speed up the recovery of the global economy, or is it trying to create economic decoupling, technological blockade and industrial disruption, and aggravate the supply-chain crisis? The United States should learn lessons from the trade war it launched against China a few years ago, which brought severe consequences to the world and the United States itself, Wang said.

Third, it should promote openness and cooperation instead of creating geopolitical confrontation. If the IPEF becomes a political tool for the United States to safeguard its regional economic hegemony and deliberately exclude specific countries, that would be a wrong way to go. Wang asked whether the United States is politicizing, weaponizing and ideologizing economic issues and using economic means to coerce regional countries to choose sides between China and the United States.

China has become the largest trading partner of most countries in the region, and its interests are deeply intertwined with those of other countries in the region, Wang said.

Those who attempt to isolate China with any framework will eventually isolate themselves, he said.