Chinese Ambassador to the United States Qin Gang said on Thursday that the U.S. "cannot expect to change China at its will," adding that China has no intention to change or replace the United States.

In an interview with NPR Morning Edition's Steve Inskeep, Qin said Beijing and Washington should work together rather than "trying to outpace each other or to suppress the other's development."

"We wish the United States well," he said. "But the question is: Can the United States respect and accept China's rise as a positive force to maintain or to facilitate world peace and prosperity? Can the United States believe that China's rise will benefit other countries, benefit people in the United States and provide more business opportunities and more jobs?"

Acknowledging that China-U.S. relations are "at a very challenging time," the Chinese ambassador said the two countries should follow the principles of "mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation" in dealing with each other.

Commenting on the Taiwan question, Qin stressed that it is the "biggest tinderbox" between China and the United States.

"We will do our utmost in the greatest sincerity to achieve a peaceful reunification," he said, noting that people on both sides of the Taiwan Straits are Chinese.

But Taiwan authorities are "walking down the road towards independence, emboldened by the United States," he said. "So China will not commit to giving up non-peaceful means for reunification."

Qin warned that if Taiwan authorities continue to seek "independence," they would "most likely" involve China and the U.S. "in a military conflict."

He criticized Washington for increasing official links with Taiwan and upgrading them, selling more advanced weaponry to the island, and even "sending soldiers landing on Taiwan." 

"The one-China policy is being hollowed out by the United States," he said.

He urged the U.S. to work together with China to contain the separatist forces in Taiwan region and "give peace a chance." 

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The ambassador answered several questions about northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, refuting "fabrications, lies and disinformation."

The Uygur people enjoy the rights and freedom guaranteed by China's Constitution, and the Uygur population rose from 5.5 million to 11 million over the past four decades, Qin said.

"The so-called 'genocide' or 'forced labor,' these are big lies of the century. There's no genocide at all," he said.

Vocational education and training centers in Xinjiang are set up as a "preventive measure" to help people "influenced by extremist ideas," he explained.

"Those people ... not every Uygur was sent to the school," he said. "But when we found some people, as I said just now, more or less influenced by extremist ideas, before they are getting worse, we send them to the school, giving them education on language and law and give them vocational training, so that when they finish, they can get a decent job with a good pay, so they can support themselves and they can support their families, so they will no longer be engaged into extremist and separatist activities."

He said the policy is aimed at making the society stable and safe and making people from all ethnic groups "live peacefully and calmly." 

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Graphics: Key figures in white paper on ethnic groups' equal rights in Xinjiang

(Cover: File photo of Chinese Ambassador to the United States Qin Gang. /CFP)