Foreign Minister Qin Wants Washington to Change Attitude, White House Says It Sees No Change in US-China Relations

John Kirby. (Wikimedia Commons/Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff)

JAKARTA - The White House on Tuesday dismissed aggressive rhetoric from China that the United States was risking confrontation with Beijing, saying Washington does not seek conflict and sees no change in US-China relations.

John Kirby, the White House national security spokesman, responded to China's Foreign Minister's warning to Washington to change its "distorted" attitude or risk conflict.

"We are looking for strategic competition with China. We are not looking for conflict," Kirby told reporters, citing Reuters March 8.

"We aim to compete and we aim to win that competition with China, but we really want to keep it at that level," Kirby continued.

Further, Kirby said the United States respects the "One-China Policy" and does not want to see a change in the status quo with regard to Taiwan, which China views as a breakaway province.

In addition, Kirby also urged China not to provide military assistance to Russia in support of its war with Ukraine. US officials have previously expressed concern that such aid might be forthcoming.

Reported earlier, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said the United States must change its distorted attitude towards China or there will be conflict and confrontation.

The US has engaged in suppression and containment of China, rather than engaging in fair and rule-based competition, Foreign Minister Qin Gang told a news conference on the sidelines of the annual parliamentary meeting in Beijing.

"The United States' perception and view of China is completely distorted," said Minister Qin, who was previously China's ambassador in Washington.

"It regards China as its main rival and most important geopolitical challenge. It's like the first shirt button it goes wrong," he continued.

The US says it is building fences for relations and is not seeking conflict. But Qin said what that means in practice is China should not respond with words or actions when it is slandered or attacked.

"That's impossible," Minister Qin said at his first press conference since becoming foreign minister in late December.

"If the United States doesn't hit the brakes, and continues to accelerate the wrong way, no guardrail can prevent slippage will turn into conflict and confrontation, and who will bear the disastrous consequences?" he asked.

Minister Qin himself likened the Sino-US competition to a race between two Olympic athletes.

"If one party instead of focusing on giving their best, always tries to trip up the other party, even to the point of having to enter the Paralympics, then this is not a healthy competition," he said.