China-U.S. ties should be determined by common interests, responsibilities, friendship: FM

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang attends a press conference on China's foreign policy and foreign relations on the sidelines of the first session of the 14th National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing, capital of China, March 7, 2023. (Xinhua/Wang Yuguo)

BEIJING, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Common interests, shared responsibilities and friendship between peoples should determine the China-U.S. relationship, rather than U.S. domestic politics or hysterical neo-McCarthyism, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said Tuesday.

Speaking at a press conference on the sidelines of the first session of the 14th National People's Congress, Qin said more people with vision and insight in the United States have been calling for a rational and pragmatic policy toward China.

Recalling his talks with ordinary Americans from port workers to farmers, the former Chinese Ambassador to the United States said the American people are friendly, kind and sincere, and they want a better life and a better world, just like the Chinese people.

"In Los Angeles, workers at the Port of Long Beach shared with me how their entire families live off trade with China, stressing that the United States and China should prosper together," Qin said. "Farmers in Iowa told me that they want to produce more food because a great number of people in the world are still living in hunger."

"Presidents of universities stressed that international exchange is critical for technological advancement, and that technological decoupling is lose-lose and all-lose," said the minister.

"Every time I think about them, I'm convinced that the China-U.S. relationship should be determined by common interests and shared responsibilities of the two countries, and by friendship between the Chinese and American people, rather than by U.S. domestic politics or hysterical neo-McCarthyism," he said.

Qin said China will continue to follow the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation to pursue a sound and stable relationship with the United States.

"We hope the U.S. government will listen to the calls of the two peoples, rid of its strategic anxiety of 'threat inflation,' abandon the zero-sum Cold War mentality, and refuse to be hijacked by 'political correctness,'" he said.

"We hope the U.S. will honor its commitments and work with China to explore the right way to get along with each other to the benefit of both countries and the entire world," said the minister.