Relations between China and the U.S. are of great significance not only to both countries, but also to the world, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang said on Monday.
He made the remarks when meeting with the U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns in Beijing.
Noting the consensus reached by the top leaders of China and the U.S. last November, Qin said that the hard-won positive development momentum between the two sides was destroyed by erroneous words and actions of the U.S.
As the agreed negotiations and cooperation agenda have been disrupted, it is imperative to stabilize China-U.S. relations and avoid a downward spiral and prevent accidents between the two countries, Qin said.
Expressing the principle of “mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation,” Qin pointed out that China hopes that the U.S. side will move in the same direction with China to push China-U.S. relations out of the predicament and back on the right track.
The U.S. side should correct its perception of China, return to rationality, and achieve mutual success in the better development of each country, Qin said, adding that the U.S. should not talk about communication on the one hand, while constantly “suppressing and containing” China on the other.
Noting that the U.S. must respect China’s bottom line, stop harming China’s sovereignty, security and development interests, Qin reiterated that the U.S. should properly handle the Taiwan issue and stop continuing to “hollow out the one-China principle.”
“We should push negotiations and talks on the back of mutual respect and equal benefit,” he said, hoping that Ambassador Burns will make constructive efforts in China by having more contacts and more communication and being a bridge between China and the United States.
US a benchmark in disregarding and violating human rights: Chinese FM
The US is by no means a model of respecting and protecting human rights, but a typical example of disregarding and violating human rights, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Monday when commenting on United Nations (UN) experts’ calling on the US to boost efforts to promote accountability for its past and future violations.
The UN International Independent Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice in the Context of Law Enforcement paid a visit to the US from April 24 to May 5. Slavery has left “a deep and long-lasting entrenched legacy” on the US, which can be “perceived through generational trauma,” according to a press release by UN after wrapping up the 12-day visit.
“Racial discrimination permeates all contacts with law enforcement, from the first contact – at times already in school – by means of racial profiling, arrest, detention, sentencing and disenfranchisement in some States. In each of those aspects, available data points to a clear disproportional impact upon people of African descent,” said the UN.
The UN experts urged the US government to take actions to establish strong accountability for human rights violations, strengthen supervision of law enforcement, and provide full compensation and assistance to victims of racial discrimination, said Wang.
In 2020, the UN Human Rights Council has held an emergency debate to raise concerns about racial discrimination in US law enforcement following the death of African American man George Floyd under the knee of a white police officer, Wang said. The Human Rights Council also established the above-mentioned Expert Mechanism in 2021 to promote racial justice and equality and to hold perpetrators accountable, said Wang.
However, unfortunately, incidents of police-related racial violence still occur frequently in the US, and discrimination against ethnic minorities such as people of African descent continues to increase, according to Wang.
Police violence and racial discrimination in the US fully expose the country’s disregard for the right of life and deep-rooted racism, Wang said.
China urged the US to respond seriously to the concerns of the international community, examine through its own serious problems in racism, racial discrimination and police violence, and stop interfering in the internal affairs of other countries under the excuses of human rights. The US should take concrete measures to give the truth and justice of the victims and do not let the tragedy of Floyd and the thousands of victims of racism repeat again, Wang noted.
