US to blame for broken communication

This is an editorial from China Daily.

One week after US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the United States would resume economic talks with China "at an appropriate time", US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told the media that she is considering a trip to China this year.

US President Joe Biden is "looking to engage with China in all ways that are good for America, commercially, diplomatically — that communication is intended to de-escalate. That's where we want to be in our relationship with China — not escalating", Raimondo said on Thursday.

There was no response from China to Yellen's remark, and Raimondo's statement had not yet met with a reply as of Sunday. Washington should have anticipated that, given the series of anti-China moves it took last week — four bills supporting "Taiwan independence" were passed on Tuesday, a potential arms deal worth $619 million to the Chinese island was approved on Wednesday, and another 28 Chinese entities were blacklisted on Thursday, exactly the same day the US commerce chief said she hopes to de-escalate trade tensions with China.

A problem both Yellen and Raimondo should realize is that although their respective departments or sectors might have a practical need to mend ties with China, the overall political system of the US, including the legislature, government and military, is doing the opposite, leaving no stone unturned to contain China, feeling no qualms about shaking the foundation of Sino-US relations and poisoning the atmosphere for bilateral communications.

It is the US side that should be held accountable for blocking exchanges between the two sides. China will never engage in any talks that are not based on equality and mutual respect.

That Sino-US trade reached a record high of more than $690 billion, according to US statistics, shows the strong resilience of the trade relations of the two sides that originates from their highly complementary economic structure and the mutually beneficial nature of China-US economic and trade cooperation.

However, the China-bashers see that the other way, viewing the US reliance on China as a threat to US security, with China being seen as a country with both the ability and will to overturn the international order dominated by the US. That strategic misjudgment is a deliberate distortion aimed at disguising the nature of the US' strategy to contain China, whose objective is to protect the US' hegemony.

That the US was not mentioned at all in the Government Work Report delivered to the country's top legislature during its annual gathering in Beijing on Sunday shows Beijing's prudence, objectivity and foresight in dealing with relations with the US despite the latter's continuous reckless provocations.

If it really wants meaningful communication with Beijing, Washington first needs to show that it too upholds the fundamental principles of a rules-based international order, namely multilateralism, equality, fairness and justice.