Chinese FM urges US to maintain proper direction of ties

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has urged the United States not to let bilateral relations move in the wrong direction amid rising diplomatic tensions between the two sides.

The US-China relationship is of great importance as the two countries have cooperated in different areas, Wang said to US Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday in a phone call.

The top Chinese diplomat further said Sino-US relationship was undergoing a transitional period, adding that both sides need to work together to keep bilateral ties on the right path.

The Chinese FM’s comment came as tensions between the two countries have been on the rise due to US President-elect Donald Trump’s criticism of Beijing’s trade practices.

Chinese policymakers are worried over Trump’s promises of a hard line stance on China, threatening to raise tariffs on exports to the United States.

Republican Trump, who is due to take power from the Democrats on January 20, has further agitated Chinese officials by holding a phone conversation with Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, casting doubt on the incoming administration’s commitment to only recognizing the Beijing government, and not Taiwan, under the “One China” policy.

To worsen the situation, Trump has left open the possibility of meeting Tsai if she visits the United States after he is sworn in.

Tsai will transit through Houston and San Francisco during a visit to Latin America this month.

China has called on the United States to block the stopover.

Beijing is concerned that Tsai, who rose to power on a pro-independence platform, might make efforts for separation from mainland China.

However, according to the statement on China’s foreign ministry's website, Kerry said maintaining the “One China” policy was the position of both of the main US parties, Democrats and Republicans.

The one-China policy is based on the three joint communiqués between the US and China, Kerry said to Wang. The communiqués, issued in the 1970s and 1980s, laid the restoration framework for the China-US diplomatic relationship.

Washington cut diplomatic relations with Taipei in 1979 and acknowledged the Chinese position that there is only one China and that Taiwan is part of it.

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