Foreign Minister Wang Yi Warns China Will Fight If Pressured Blindly

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. (Wikimedia Commons/Office of the President of Russia)

JAKARTA - Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Friday Beijing would "firmly resist" US pressure on tariffs and fentanyl issues, adding great powers "not to oppress the weak", in a covert satire of President Donald Trump's foreign policy.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi presented China as a reliable global force amid geopolitical chaos and the withdrawal of President Trump from international agencies, part of a clear call from Beijing to Europe and countries on South Global.

The US imposed an additional 10 percent tariff on Chinese imports this week over the deadly flow of opioid fentanyl to the country, which threatened to exacerbate the spiral's escalation of trade actions.

"If one party blindly puts pressure on it, China will firmly fight it," Foreign Minister Wang Yi told a news conference on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the Chinese Parliament.

The US is "not allowed to repay kindness with complaints, let alone impose tariffs for no reason," Foreign Minister Wang added, referring to the "manifold assistance" Beijing has given Washington to tackle the flow of fentanyl precursor drugs to Uncle Sam's country.

"No country can pressure China on the one hand and develop good relations with China on the other," said the senior diplomat when asked how China would engage with President Trump's administration over the next four years.

Such a "two-faced" approach does not help a stable relationship, he said, without naming anyone in the US Administration.

Foreign Minister Wang's statement, mostly calm about the US, without naming President Trump at all, shows Beijing wants to keep the prospect of potential trade talks alive in the future, said Wen-Ti Sung, Taiwan-based nonresident researcher from the Global China Hub, the Atlantic Council.

"They want to pursue every room to de-escalate with Trump in terms of trade," said Sung.

"One way to do this is to keep the intensity of rhetoric low at a manageable measure to provide space for both parties," he said.

Regarding the settlement of the Ukraine war, China wants to reach an "fair, lasting and binding peace agreement" that is acceptable to all parties, said Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

"China is willing to continue to play a constructive role in solving the end of the crisis and realizing lasting peace, in accordance with the wishes of the relevant parties, together with the international community," he said.

It is known that Western countries have urged Beijing to take a more active role in using its economic influence on Russia to stop the war. So far, Beijing has refused to publicly criticize its strategic partners or stop its economic support for Moscow.

China-Russia relations are "a constant thing in a volatile world, not variables in geopolitical play," Foreign Minister Wang told a news conference.

Chinese President Xi Jinping recently reaffirmed Beijing's "infinity" partnership with Moscow by phone call with his Russian counterpart on the anniversary of Moscow's three-year massive invasion of Ukraine by 2022.

President Trump himself has changed US policies towards Ukraine after taking office last month, showing a softer stance on Russia that has made traditional Washington allies in the West nervous.

Foreign Minister Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that Ukraine's conflict was a "proxy war" between Washington and Moscow that needed to end, having previously said Washington wanted to "separate" Moscow from Beijing.

Analysts say Beijing wants to take advantage of its growing transatlantic rifts to strengthen its ties to European countries, which have been strained by Ukraine and trade tensions.

"China still has confidence in Europe, and believes Europe can still be China's trusted partner," Wang said.

On the same occasion Foreign Minister Wang Yi also urged developing countries to "continue to improve our representation and power of discourse in global governance".

"If every country emphasizes its own national priorities and believes in strength and status, the world will return to jungle law, small and weak countries will bear the burden," he said in a covert reference to Washington's actions.

"Large powers should not be profit-oriented, and they should not oppress the weak."

In the first two months of office in a second term, President Trump has withdrawn the US from several multilateral organizations and climate agreements, suspended most foreign aid and voted against United Nations resolutions condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"When the Trump administration's foreign policy revised many existing expectations, China wanted to present itself as the party that maintains the status quo," said Sung.

"When countries in the southern hemisphere see the US being backward and inwardly oriented, there is a fear of a strategic void, a void that China wants to fill," he added.