Responding to Pompeo's anti-China message in India, Beijing calls it a 'lie'
Updated 20:38, 28-Oct-2020
CGTN

Just a week ahead of America's presidential election, senior U.S. officials stepped up their anti-China message – widely pushed by the Trump administration – during a visit to India, a move that quickly drew opposition from Beijing.

The U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the U.S. and India would "confront threats to their freedom and sovereignty" during his visit to India for the India-U.S. 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue.  

The remarks invoked the ire of Beijing. Chinese foreign ministry refutes Pompeo's so-called "China threat" claim as one of Pompeo's cliched anti-China lies.

By doing this, the U.S. is indeed trying to get China back to the state of poverty and backwardness, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the remarks at Wednesday's regular press briefing as he responded to a series of questions regarding Pompeo's visit in the region. 

China is not a threat, but an opportunity, Wang said, adding that nothing can stop the global trend of peaceful development and win-win cooperation. 

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Later in a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Esper called for deepening ties between the two countries. That, he said, is particularly important "in light of increasing aggression and destabilizing actions by China."

The Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson stressed that the China-India border disputes should be remained to solve only between these two countries.

Overall, the situation is stabilized and the communication channel between China and India is open, and negotiations underway, Wang said.

He also urged the U.S. not to force Sri Lanka to pick sides as Pompeo reportedly has arrived in the country as the second stop of his visit. 

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On Tuesday, the Chinese Embassy in India also issued a statement on its website, calling out the two U.S. officials and urging Washington to "stop the wrong actions."

"The 'Indo-Pacific strategy' proposed by the U.S. is to stir up confrontation among different groups and blocs and to stoke geopolitical competition, in a bid to maintain the dominance of the U.S., organize closed and exclusive ideological cliques," the statement said.

Described by the U.S. government as "an ironclad and enduring commitment to" the region that spans from the Pacific Ocean to the Indian subcontinent, Washington detailed in 2019 a thorough plan in regards to diplomatic, economic, governance and security sectors in the area.

"The U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and other senior official repeated old lies, attacked and made allegations against China, violated the norms of international relations and basic principles of diplomacy, instigated China's relations with other countries in the region, which once again exposed their Cold War mentality and ideological bias," read the statement.

"The leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is the choice of history and the people," the statement said.

In the release, Beijing reaffirmed its uphold for multilateralism, while urging Washington to "abandon the Cold War and zero-sum mentality, and stop hyping up the so-called 'China threat' [theory]."