US should have abandoned so-called China Initiative long ago: spokesperson

BEIJING, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- The United States should have abandoned its so-called China Initiative long ago, a foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday, urging the U.S. to cease regarding China as an "imaginary enemy."

Spokesperson Hua Chunying made the remarks at a press briefing when asked to comment on the U.S. Department of Justice's scrapping of its China Initiative.

Hua pointed out that, as facts have proven, the initiative is nothing but a clumsy tool used by anti-China forces in the U.S., abusing the concept of national security to suppress and contain China.

She said the initiative, which has aggravated the issue of racial discrimination in the U.S. and caused grave damage to the Asian American community, has poisoned the atmosphere of mutual trust and cooperation between China and the U.S.

China urges the U.S. side to cease playing up the so-called China threat, cease slandering and suppressing China with fabricated pretexts, and cease disrupting normal China-U.S. exchanges and cooperation across the board, Hua said.