‘Smear marketing campaign’: Beijing reacts to US calling China ‘most severe problem to worldwide order’

China on Friday dismissed US’ description of Beijing being the “most serious long-term challenge to the international order”, terming it as a “classic piece of disinformation and a smear campaign”.

Addressing an viewers at US-based George Washington University on Thursday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated China is the one nation with each the intent to reshape the worldwide order and, more and more, the financial, diplomatic, army, and technological energy to do it.

He referred to as China “the most serious long-term challenge to the international order”, and the US, whereas stepping up competitors with “make investments, align, compete” strategy, will, however, avoid conflict or new Cold War with the Communist country.

China sharply hit back at Blinken, terming his observations as a “classic piece of disinformation and a smear campaign”.

“This speech of Secretary Blinken is a voluminous one. He went to great lengths to spread disinformation, play up the so-called ‘China threat’, interfere in China’s internal affairs and smear China’s domestic and foreign policy,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said.

“The sole purpose is to contain and suppress China’s development and maintain the US hegemony. China deplores and rejects this,” he said.

Wang said international rules and order have been clearly defined and China has always maintained that all countries should firmly uphold the international system with the UN at its core.

In his speech spanning over 40 minutes, Blinken outlined his administration’s strategy towards China which included building up a “network of allies and partners, acting with a common purpose and in common cause” and referred to Washington’s efforts to build close ties with India as well as the recent Quad meeting in Tokyo.

“And we’re standing up new coalitions to ship for our individuals and meet the exams of the century forward. Nowhere is that this extra true than within the Indo-Pacific area, the place {our relationships}, together with our treaty alliances, are amongst our strongest on this planet,” he stated.

Wang additionally hit out at Quad — comprising India, Japan, the US and Australia; and AUKUS — a trilateral safety pact between Australia, the UK and the US.

Creating “small cliques” is reversing the course of historical past. Forging “small blocs” is in opposition to the development of historical past. The US created the so-called “Indo-Pacific strategy” to rope in regional international locations to include China, and claims to “shape the strategic environment around Beijing”, he stated.

“This move to gang up on China will get no support and is doomed to fail,” Wang warned.

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Blinken has also repeatedly stressed that the US does not seek to stymie China as a world power or change its political system, nor does it seek a clash with it.

“We aren’t on the lookout for battle or a brand new Cold War. To the opposite, we’re decided to keep away from each,” Blinken said.

He said the US is ready to strengthen diplomacy and increase communication with China “throughout a full vary of points” and is prepared to work together on matters of mutual interest like climate change and Covid-19, noting that “whilst we make investments, align and compete, or along with Beijing, the place our pursuits come collectively”.

“We cannot let the disagreements that divide us cease us from shifting ahead on the priorities that demand that we work collectively for the great of our individuals and for the great of the world,” Blinken said.

In his response, Wang said China has noted Blinken’s statement that the US is not looking for conflict or a new Cold War with China; it doesn’t seek to block China from its role as a major power, nor to stop China from growing its economy; and it wants to coexist peacefully with China.

“We are watching what the US will do,” he stated.

In his speech, Blinken stated President Joe Biden throughout his journey to the area, reaffirmed US’ important safety alliances with South Korea and Japan, and deepened its financial and expertise cooperation with each the international locations.

Biden launched the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) for prosperity, a first-of-its-kind initiative for the area. “It will, in the President’s words, ‘help all our countries’ economies grow faster and fairer,” Blinken stated.

“IPEF, as we call it, renews American economic leadership but adapts it for the 21st century by addressing cutting-edge issues like the digital economy, supply chains, clean energy, infrastructure, and corruption,” he said.

A dozen countries, including India, have already joined. Together, IPEF members make up more than a third of the global economy, Blinken said.

“The president also took part in the leaders’ summit of the Quad countries…It is becoming a leading regional team. This week, it launched a new Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness, so our partners across the region can better monitor the waters near their shores to address illegal fishing and protect their maritime rights and their sovereignty,” he said.

“We’re enhancing peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific; for example, with the new security partnership between Australia, the UK and the US, known as AUKUS,” Blinken said.

The Biden administration’s approach will be “make investments, align, compete”, he said, adding that although the US does not seek conflict with China, it is prepared to defend its interests.

Blinken sought to underscore the degree to which the Washington-Beijing relationship is “probably the most advanced and consequential relationships of any that we’ve got on this planet as we speak”.

As he broadly described how the US intends to approach that relationship, Blinken drew sharp distinctions between the two nations, describing things like China’s “repressive” authorities, unfair commerce practices and human rights abuses.