China’s top diplomat has issued a strong warning, declaring that Beijing will “firmly counter” mounting pressure from the United States following President Donald Trump’s imposition of tariffs on Chinese goods, Al Jazeera reports.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi accused Washington of “meeting good with evil” by instigating a trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
Speaking at a news conference on Friday, during a key political meeting in Beijing, Wang cautioned that the “law of the jungle” could prevail if nations prioritize their own interests above all else.
The US and China have been engaged in escalating retaliatory tariffs since Trump’s return to office in January. The US has imposed flat tariffs of 20 percent on all Chinese imports, prompting China to respond with additional 15 percent duties on US imports, including chicken, pork, soy, and beef, and by expanding restrictions on doing business with key US companies.
“China-US economic and trade ties are mutual,” Wang told reporters. “If you choose to cooperate, you can achieve mutually beneficial and win-win results. If you use only pressure, China will firmly counter.”
Highlighting China’s cooperation in combating the fentanyl epidemic in the US, Wang argued that Washington should not “repay kindness with resentment, let alone impose tariffs without reason.”
Despite the escalating tensions, Wang maintained that both countries still share “broad common interests and space for cooperation.”
The trade war comes amidst a backdrop of China’s growing economic influence. Chinese shipbuilders, for example, now account for over 50 percent of global merchant vessel cargo capacity production each year, a significant increase from just 5 percent in 1999, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. This growth has come largely at the expense of shipbuilders in Japan and South Korea, while the US shipbuilding industry, which peaked in the 1970s, now represents a small fraction of global output.
