Hypocrisy of Washington's China policy

File photo shows the White House and a stop sign in Washington DC, the United States. [Photo/Xinhua]

This is an editorial from China Daily.

China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a fact sheet, in response to the speech delivered by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on May 26 outlining the United States' China policy.

With carefully crafted language, the top US diplomat tried to sell the "China threat" theory to the world based on a wrong perception of China and China's development. The Foreign Ministry's rebuttal points out the falsehoods in the US perceptions of China, and with detailed facts and statistics, outlines the US' blatant interference in China's internal affairs and its smearing of China's domestic and foreign policy.

One of the most malicious accusations Blinken lodged against China is that it poses a serious long-term challenge to the international order. Nothing could be further from the truth. China has for a long time consistently advocated for a more just and fairer international order and taken steps to try and promote this. Among the permanent members of the UN Security Council, China is the largest contributor to the UN's peacekeeping missions worldwide. China has remained a staunch supporter of multilateralism and an indispensable force in building world and regional peace and stability and safeguarding the international order.

In contrast, the US is the one that poses the gravest threat to the international order. Its vows to uphold the world order have repeatedly been belied by its actions, which are aimed at serving its own interests and reinforcing its global hegemony. What the US has constantly vowed to preserve is an international order that was designed to primarily serve its own interests. And if this system fails in that objective, the US readily resorts to "coercive diplomacy". It excels at such coercion by imposing economic blockades, unilateral sanctions and other means.

Over the years, countries such as Cuba, Iran, Belarus, Syria, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Venezuela have all felt the lash of US sanctions. During its time in office, the Donald Trump administration imposed over 3,900 sanctions, which means it wielded the stick of sanctions three times a day on average.

Nor should it escape anyone's attention how often the US has resorted to the use of force in pursuit of its agenda. The US does not hesitate to wage wars or instigate armed conflicts, which not coincidently are good for its businesses: In its 240-year history, there have been only 16 years when it has not been engaged in military conflict.

Championing the "rules-based" international order is just a ruse the US employs to impose its own will and standards onto others. It does not hesitate to rewrite the house rules and stack the cards in its favor whenever it considers itself to have a losing hand.