China: U.S. Waging ‘Naked Economic Terrorism’

Date: 31 May 2019 - 21:37

News ID: ۶۶۵۸۲

MOSCOW (Dispatches) -- China accused the United States of "naked economic terrorism" on Thursday as the world's top two economies remained at loggerheads, with trade talks apparently stalled.
Tensions escalated after U.S. President Donald Trump hiked tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods earlier this month and blacklisted telecoms giant Huawei.
"We are against the trade war, but we are not afraid of it," vice foreign minister Zhang Hanhui said at a press briefing to preview President Xi Jinping's trip to Russia next week.
"This premeditated instigation of a trade conflict is naked economic terrorism, economic chauvinism, and economic bullying," Zhang said, stressing that China opposes the systematic use of sanctions, tariffs and protectionism.
"There is no winner in a trade war," he warned.
China has hit back with its own tariff increase on $60 billion in U.S. products that will take effect Saturday, while state media has suggested that Beijing could stop exports of rare earths to the United States, depriving Washington of a key resource used to make hi-tech products.
China produces more than 95 percent of the world's rare earths, and the United States relies on the Asian superpower for upwards of 80 percent of its imports.
"It is unacceptable for any country to use rare earth products exported by China to curb and suppress China's development," commerce ministry spokesman Gao Feng said Thursday.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, asked about the rare earths threat during an interview, said that Americans have already "lost and suffered for decades under the current rules" and that Trump's "singular focus is to push back" on China.
He renewed his attack on Huawei, saying there was a "deep connectivity" between the company and the Chinese state.
"If it's the case that the Chinese Communist Party wanted to get information from technology that was in the possession of Huawei, it is almost certainly the case that Huawei would provide that to them," he told the Fox Business Network.
"You have seen that for some time, the U.S. government has tried very hard to fabricate various topics, misleading the public in the U.S. or in other countries of the international community, in order to suppress Huawei," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters.
While Washington and Beijing spar, Xi is preparing to meet with President Vladimir Putin from June 5 to June 7 as the neighboring giants forge closer ties.
"This trade conflict will also have a serious negative impact on the development and revival of the global economy," Zhang said.
China and Russia have broad consensus and common interests on the trade war issue, and the two countries will "certainly" strengthen their economic cooperation, Zhang said.
"We will certainly respond to various external challenges, do what we have to do, develop our economies, and constantly improve the living standards of our two peoples," he said.
Taiwan is another area of friction between Beijing and Washington. China said on Friday the United States is "playing with fire” by a series of actions it has taken in the Taiwan Strait in support of the self-ruled island’s secession bid.
Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian said the U.S. has recently been incessantly playing the "Taiwan card” in a futile effort to "use Taiwan to control China”.
"This is deluded,” he said. "The series of actions the U.S. side has taken is playing with fire, seriously harms the development of military relations between China and the United States, and seriously harms peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait area.”
China’s warning came as Taipei conducted a live-fire drill on Thursday at a beach in southern Taiwan.
Almost all world countries, including the U.S., recognize Chinese sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan. Beijing has pursued Taiwan’s reunification ever since the island broke away from the mainland during a civil war in 1949.
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump however has been playing up the prospect of direct relations with Taiwan as an apparent bargaining chip against China.
Washington — which has no formal diplomatic relations with Taipei by law — has extensive military ties with Taiwan, selling advanced military hardware to the island.
Beijing has constantly warned that it would not tolerate any activity, in any form or name, which attempts to separate Taiwan from the mainland.