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China’s foreign minister has accused the US of “two-faced” behaviour, condemning the imposition of tariffs on Chinese goods and warning against the “law of the jungle” that could emerge from Donald Trump’s “America First” policy.
Speaking at the sidelines of China’s annual parliamentary gathering, Wang Yi said China would “firmly counter” US pressure. “No country should think that it can suppress China and maintain good relations,” he added.
Wang’s comments came days after the US president announced an increase on tariffs on Chinese imports. This week, Washington increased tariffs on a range of Chinese goods to 20%. Wang condemned the levies as “arbitrary”.
Customs data published on Friday showed that the value of China’s exports in January and February grew 2.3% year-on-year, well below expectations, underlining the pressure that China’s exporters will be under this year if China is to hit its GDP growth target of 5%.
China’s foreign ministry this week made aggressive comments about the US, warning that in a “tariff war, trade war or any other war, China will fight to the end”. In contrast, Wang’s comments on Friday were more muted, but the frustration at Washington’s stance towards Beijing was clear. “A big country should honour its international obligations,” Wang said, adding that countries “should not bully” each other. If countries pursue their own interests without regard for the international order, “the law of the jungle would reign the world again” and small countries would suffer, Wang said.
The veteran diplomat pointed to the success of the Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek as evidence that US sanctions would not work. “Where there is blockade, there is breakthrough; where there is suppression, there is innovation,” he said.
DeepSeek caused shock waves in January when it released an AI model that emulated the sophistication of leading US competitors, while claiming to have only used Nvidia’s H800 chips, which were developed specifically for the Chinese market because the more cutting-edge H100 chips were banned from being exported to China by US restrictions.
“A high fence and small yard cannot suppress innovation,” Wang said, referring to the White House’s flagship industrial strategy policy for China during the Biden administration, which aimed to cut China off from the most advanced US technology.
Wang also presented China as being at odds with the US in other key foreign policy areas. Asked about Trump’s plans to redevelop Gaza, which have been widely criticised as endorsing ethnic cleansing, Wang said: “Gaza belongs to the Palestinian people.” Wang said China supported the plan to rebuild Gaza that was presented by Arab leaders at a summit in Cairo this week.
On resolving the Ukraine war, Wang said China was “ready to work with the international community” to find a peace deal. But he insisted that China’s close relationship with Russia was firm, and would not be “swayed by any turn of events”. Wang said the war in Ukraine “could have been avoided” and that “no country should build its security on the insecurity of another”. Beijing has long voiced sympathy with Moscow’s concern about Nato enlargement.
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On Europe-China relations, Wang struck a more conciliatory note. “China remains confident in Europe and believes Europe can be a trustworthy partner,” Wang said. Europe is an important trading partner for China and there are worries in Beijing that the relationship has suffered because of the war in Ukraine.
With countries around the world reeling from the dramatic first weeks of Trump’s presidency, Wang said China was a country of stability. “We are living in a changing and turbulent world,” he said, adding that China could bring “certainty to this uncertain world”.
