Envoy: Honor spirit of Xi-Biden summit

The recent rhetoric about a "China threat" and calls by some US officials and lawmakers to intensify curbs on exports and investment run counter to the commitments that US President Joe Biden made in his recent summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in California, a top Chinese envoy has said.

"We hope the US side will move in the same direction with China (and) earnestly translate President Biden's positive statements and commitments into actions," said Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng, adding that backpedaling must be avoided, still less saying one thing but doing another.

Xie made the remarks in a meeting with a group of 20 young American specialists on China on Monday at the Chinese embassy in Washington.

The young scholars comprise the eighth round of experts participating in the Public Intellectuals Program hosted by the National Committee on United States-China Relations. They come from institutions including the University of California, Irvine, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Utah, and Apple Inc.

Xie noted that in recent days, some US government officials and some Congress members have been "hyping up" the threat and challenge posed by China and have openly called for continuing to curb or suppress China on the economy, trade and technology in addition to adopting discriminatory and protectionist policies targeting China's electric vehicle industry.

On Saturday, at the annual Reagan National Defense Forum in California, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo called China "the biggest threat" the US has ever had and stressed the need to tighten export controls to prevent China from outpacing the US in emerging technologies.

A day earlier, the Biden administration announced new rules to exclude from eligibility for tax credits electric vehicles that contain battery components from Chinese companies, a move that some experts said will likely make EVs less affordable and is a wrong approach to addressing supply chain issues.

"Such statements and actions are inconsistent with President Biden's commitments and do not reflect the right attitude expected in implementing the common understandings reached between the two presidents," Xie said.

The ambassador said that the US side needs to develop a right perception toward China, see it as a partner rather than a rival, and view China's development as an opportunity rather than threat. He said the US should do things conducive to mutual trust and cooperation instead of the other way around. 

In particular, Washington should earnestly respect China's sovereignty, security and development interests; abide by the one-China principle; stop arming Taiwan; and avoid interfering in the Taiwan regional elections in any way, he said. 

If one sees economic mutual interdependence with others as risks, restricts their businesses' outbound investment, and seeks decoupling investments on the pretext of "national security" and "de-risking", it would only hamper normal decision-making of enterprises, disrupt the international economic order, and destabilize global industrial and supply chains, he added. 

"Such attempts to pursue one's own security based on the insecurity of others and the world will not work and should not be an option," Xie said.