Ambassador Qin Gang's interview with US mainstream media

Steve Clemons (The Hill): Ambassador, if I may, you have said very specifically that the US said that you're looking at Pelosi trip as an excuse for China to set a new normal, basically saying that China was escalating the situation. One of the features that I saw in this was that a lot in the administration have serious reservations about Nancy Pelosi's trip. We actually saw they were divided within the administration. So who in the administration is actually telling you that China is using this pretext to change the status quo?

Ambassador Qin Gang: It's not a secret to us. Last Friday I think, a senior official of the National Security Council did a press briefing, blaming China for escalating the situation and using the visit as a pretext.

Steve Clemons: So it's Kurt Campbell.

Ambassador Qin Gang: It's on the record. It's recorded in the media.

Phelim Kine (POLITICO): Mr. Ambassador, a quick question, we've seen (inaudible) of the United States, in Missouri and Pennsylvania and other places, where the idea of China threat is a big part of the political rhetoric, political discourse. It seems pretty likely that the fallout in this country from the PLA's response to Pelosi's visit to Taiwan is gonna accentuate that. And I guess my question to you is, are you concerned that we're going to see this idea of China threat being part of midterm election rhetoric? I wonder, do you have a message to US lawmakers and to US voters about how they should be seeing China? Thank you.

Ambassador Qin Gang: I've been here as the ambassador for a year. And I have found that I'm in an environment of "threat-phobia". My country is being greatly mis-perceived and miscalculated as a challenge or even a threat to the United States, as you mentioned just now. And this relationship, which is so important and so consequential, is now being driven by fear, not by common interests and common responsibilities. If you listen to the words and see the behaviors of the politicians in this country, it's not difficult to draw this conclusion. But I want to say that China is not a threat, it's not a challenge. China's development intention is just to get a better life for its people. We have no intention to replace the United States and to destroy the United States. We just want our people to lead a happy life. We need a peaceful and cooperative external environment, including, particularly, our relations with the United States, so that we can focus on our domestic construction. But sadly, our intention is misunderstood. So I do hope that people can get rid of the "threat-phobia" and not blame China for everything, every problem of this country. China and the United States are different. China cannot change the United States. The United States cannot change China. We have differences. But differences cannot justify groundless blames and crazy, unreasonable words and deeds. And we should not let differences and disagreements stand at the center of the stage of our relations. We should not let them define our relations. If people handle this relationship out of fear of China, it will cause tensions, tensions after tensions. It will put our relations on a wrong track, and very dangerously lead our relations to the course or direction of conflict and confrontation.

Mary Louise Kelly (NPR): There's been a lot of conversations in Washington over what lessons China is taking from Russia's invasion of Ukraine. And I wonder if you would answer that. What are you learning as you watch the war unfolding in Ukraine? Do you see parallels? Do you see differences?

Ambassador Qin Gang: I don't know what lessons the United States should take from the Ukraine crisis. China is not a party in the crisis, not in history, not in reality. Everybody knows the root cause of the crisis. This is not between China and Ukraine. China is not NATO. Why this crisis happened? There are historical complexities and realistic considerations. What Russia wants cannot be given by China. China is a force for peace. At the very beginning of the crisis, China calls for peace, for ceasefire, for political solution through diplomatic consultations. And we don't send weapons, ammunitions. What China has sent to Ukraine are sleeping bags, medicine, humanitarian aid. So if there's any lesson to be drawn by the United States, by NATO, or by other parties involved, maybe that is how to achieve security. A country cannot build its security at the cost of other countries. And all countries' legitimate security concerns have to be taken into considerations. It's not a zero-sum game, and Cold-War mentality is not a solution to security issues in modern world.

That's why President Xi Jinping has proposed the Global Security Initiative, calling for all countries to join hands in building up a security which is common, comprehensive, shared and sustainable. I do hope that sooner or later the parties concerned in the crisis will come to the negotiation table to find a way out of the current difficulty, so that people can negotiate a future framework of the security.