Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China will continue to retaliate to the United States’ “arbitrary tariffs” and accused Washington of “meeting good with evil” in a press conference Friday on the sidelines of the country’s annual parliamentary session.
Wang said China’s efforts to help the U.S. contain its fentanyl crisis have been met with punitive tariffs, which are straining the ties between the countries.
“No country should fantasize that it can suppress China and maintain a good relationship with China at the same time,” Wang said. “Such two-faced acts are not good for the stability of bilateral relations or for building mutual trust.”
The latest rhetorical escalation comes after the ministry’s spokesperson on Tuesday said, “If the U.S. has other agenda in mind and if war is what the U.S. wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war or any other type of war, we’re ready to fight till the end.” The Chinese Embassy in the U.S. repeated the statement in multiple social media posts, to which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired back on Fox News on Wednesday: “We’re prepared. Those who long for peace must prepare for war.”
The two countries have been reengaging in tit-for-tat retaliatory tariffs since U.S. President Donald Trump’s return to office in January. The U.S. has imposed flat tariffs of 20% of all Chinese imports, while Beijing has countered with additional 15% duties on U.S. imports including chicken, pork, soy and beef, and expanded controls on doing business with key U.S. companies.
The two countries have been reengaging in tit-for-tat retaliatory tariffs since U.S. President Donald Trump’s return to office in January. The U.S. has imposed flat tariffs of 20% of all Chinese imports, while Beijing has countered with additional 15% duties on U.S. imports including chicken, pork, soy and beef, and expanded controls on doing business with key U.S. companies.
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Regarding the Trump administration’s policy of safeguarding U.S. interests above international cooperation, Wang said such an approach, if adopted by every country in the world, would result in the “law of the jungle.”
“Small and weak countries will get burnt first, and the international order and rules will be under severe shock,” Wang said. “Major countries should undertake their international obligations … and not seek to profit from and bully the weak.”
On the Ukraine war, Wang reiterated China’s stance of supporting conflict resolution through political negotiations. Wang said that in hindsight, the Ukraine conflict “could have been avoided.”
“All parties should learn something from the crisis,” he said. “Among many other things, security should be mutual and equal, and no country should build its security on the insecurity of another.”
Wang stressed that China-Russia relations are as strong as ever despite recent consultations between the U.S. and Russia on ending the Ukraine war. He said Beijing and Moscow are planning joint celebrations this year marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
On Taiwan, the island democracy China claims as its own, Wang said “Taiwan has never been a country and will never be a country in the future.”
Read More: For Taiwan, Trump’s Strategic Ambiguity Brings Anxious Uncertainty
“Advocating for Taiwan independence is splitting the country, supporting Taiwan independence is interfering in China’s internal affairs, and conniving for Taiwan independence is undermining the stability of the Taiwan Strait,” he said.
Those who support Taiwan’s independence are “only playing with fire and will burn themselves,” Wang said.
—Associated Press reporter Simina Mistreanu reported from Beijing. AP researcher Yu Bing and video producer Olivia Zhang contributed to this report.
