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SCMP Reporters

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Promoted two months ago, Qin Gang is holding his first annual press conference as foreign minister at this year’s “two sessions”.
He picked up the baton passed by his predecessor Wang Yi, who held the position for nearly a decade and has been promoted to be director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission.
Qin is known as one of the toughest voices within the foreign ministry and became ambassador to the United States in July 2021 when China-US relations were at all-time low.
Observers says Qin gained President Xi Jinping’s trust by the way he made arrangements for Xi’s overseas trips.


Reporting by Kinling Lo, Cyril Ip, Kawala Xie, Amber Wang, Laura Zhou, Zhao Ziwen and Shi Jiangtao


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Two Sessions 2023 (Lianghui)

As it happened: China’s ‘two sessions’ 2023: Foreign Minister Qin Gang hits out at US on Ukraine, rate rises and Taiwan

Foreign Minister Qin Gang arrives at the NPC media centre on Tuesday morning. Photo: Getty Images

News

China

Diplomacy

Qin says containment and suppression will not make America great and won’t stop China
He also says Chinese-style modernisation is important for world development


Qin says containment and suppression will not make America great and won’t stop China.


Two Sessions 2023 (Lianghui): All Articles

Two Sessions 2023 (Lianghui): Top Priorities

Qin Gang

Live

Qin Gang’s press conference will start around 10am.





Standing room only

In a rare direct criticism, Chinese President Xi Jinping took aim at the United States in a panel discussion during the annual gathering of the top advisory body on Monday, according to state news agency Xinhua.
Xi said China had been grappling with “comprehensive containment and suppression by Western countries led by the US over the past few years”.
He said it had brought unprecedented and severe challenges for China’s development and the risks facing China in the future would be more severe and common.


Xi aims at US

Qin Gang graduated from Beijing’s University of International Relations with a degree in law and international politics.
He has worked in numerous diplomatic positions throughout his career, including stints as China’s envoy to Britain from 2010 to 2011, vice-minister of foreign affairs from 2018 to 2021 and, most recently, ambassador to the United States from 2021 to 2022.
Before leaving the US last year, Qin thanked Americans for “the strong support and assistance given to [him] and the Chinese embassy” during “a time of severe challenges for China-US relations”.
His replacement has not been named.


Career highlights

Qin Gang has made various trips abroad since becoming foreign minister, most recently to New Delhi, where he met his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
They agreed to steer and improve bilateral relations, following the decision by both countries in September to disengage troops in disputed border territories.
Before that, he also visited the Association of Southeast Asian Nations headquarters in Jakarta, Indonesia, where he discussed trade and infrastructure development with regional leaders.


On the road

The Chinese government has proposed a 12.2 per cent increase in the budget for “diplomacy endeavours” to 54.84 billion yuan (US$7.95 billion) this year.
Those endeavours include deepening overseas financial and economic exchanges, participation in international economic governance, and advancing “high quality” building of the Belt and Road Initiative.


Budget boost

Qin Gang arrives for the press conference.



Qin arrives

Qin starts his first press conference as China’s foreign minister by saying Beijing will pursue an independent policy of peace and continue opening up.
China will contribute to global development and be a defender of the international order.


‘Peace and opening up’

Qin says China will host the first China – Central Asia Summit this year, as well as the third Belt and Road Forum.
“We will ensure the success of two diplomatic events we will host: the first China – Central Asia Summit and the third Belt and Road Forum,” Qin said.


Diplomatic events

Qin says China will defend its core interests, and oppose hegemony, a “cold war mentality” and bloc politics.
It will oppose unilateral sanctions.
China will safeguard China’s security and development interests, he says.
He also says China will maintain and strengthen ties with old friends.


Core interests

“We will aim at open development, serve domestic high-quality development and high-level opening up, oppose ‘decoupling and broken chains’, oppose unilateral sanctions, maintain an open and inclusive world economy, and provide new opportunities for the world with China’s new development,” Qin says.


‘Open development’

Qin vows to open a new chapter in China’s major country diplomacy, which he says will be an expedition “through stormy seas”.


‘Stormy seas’

China and Russia are “setting a good example for international relations”, Qin says.
He says it is incorrect to view the China-Russia relationship through a “cold-war perspective”.
“China-Russia relations are non-aligned, non-confrontational, non-targeted at third parties, and do not pose a threat to third parties,” he says.
“The relations between the two countries are the driving force for greater democracy in international relations.”



On Russia

Qin says the Chinese style of modernisation is important for world development.
He makes five points on its importance.
First, it is independent and rooted in China’s culture.
“Every country has the right to choose its own path,” he says.
Second, Chinese-style modernisation is the modernisation of common prosperity for all people.
Third, China’s modernisation does not pursue war or colonisation, and it is different from Western modernisation.
Fourth, China’s modernisation is open and inclusive.
Fifth, China’s modernisation is about people “working hard in unity”.
“Chinese modernisation … busts the myth that modernisation means westernisation,” he says.


Chinese-style modernisation

Asked about dropping the use of the US dollar and the euro in China-Russia trade, Qin says China will use whatever currency is “efficient, safe and credible”.
“Currencies should not be used as trump cards for unilateral sanctions,” he says.
According to Russian newspaper Kommersant, the Chinese yuan overtook the US dollar as the most traded currency in the Russian market for the first time last month.
The yuan’s share in trading volume is around 40 per cent, while the US dollar’s share is just over 38 per cent. The euro stood at 21.2 per cent.



‘Safe and credible’ currency

“The Chinese-style modernisation process is the growth of world peace, justice and progress,” Qin says.
“We hope and believe that more and more countries in the world will embark on the path of modernisation and make the dream of a community with a shared future for mankind a reality.”


‘Shared future for mankind’

On China-US relations, Qin says the passage of a balloon over US territory earlier this year was an “unexpected incident”.
“[The US] acted with a presumption of guilt … overreacted, abused force and dramatised the incident,” he says.



The balloon saga

On relations with Washington, Qin warns that if the US does not “hit the brakes, and continues on the wrong path, there will surely be conflict and confrontation”.
“Who will bear the catastrophic consequences?
“Containment and suppression will not make American great and will not stop the rejuvenation of China.”


‘Catastrophic consequences’

On China’s role in improving global governance amid chaos, Qin says humanity has “come to a new crossroads”.
He says President Xi Jinping has proposed the “right approach to global development”.
According to Qin, these proposals include the belt and road, the “common value of humanity”, a “community with a shared future for mankind”, defeating Covid-19 and tackling climate change.


‘A new crossroads’

Qin accuses the United States of staging unfair competition with China, using the analogy of the Olympics.
He says if one athlete always tries to trip or injure the other, or tries to “push the other to the Paralympics”, then “it would not be a fair competition, but malicious confrontation”.


‘Unfair competition’

Addressing the question of Taiwan, Qin takes a moderate line in an apparent resumption of the carrot-and-stick approach.
“The two sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one family which is called China,” he says, adding that the people on both sides are “brothers and sisters”.
Beijing takes conciliatory tone on Taiwan with call to ‘advance’ exchanges


To Taiwan

Qin takes a softer approach when speaking about the American people, distinguishing them from US politicians.
He says the Americans he has met are just like the Chinese: “Friendly, kind and sincere”.
“They want a better life and a better world,” Qin says.
He describes his interactions with Americans, including port workers in Long Beach, California, who want the US and China to work together, and farmers in the state of Iowa, who want to produce more food because many people are still living in hunger.
Qin talks about an American student learning Chinese who “loves China” and university leaders who say international exchanges are critical for technological advancement.


The American people

Qin says the US needs to explain its plan for “the destruction of Taiwan”.
He was referring to comments by Garland Nixon, an American radio programme host, who, quoting a White House insider, said last month that US President Joe Biden had a plan to destroy Taiwan.
“Why can the United States talk about sovereignty and territorial integrity over Ukraine, but does not respect China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity over Taiwan?”
He asks why the US prevents other countries from supplying weapons to Russia while the US arms Taiwan.
If the Taiwan question cannot be handled well, it will shake the very foundation of China-US relations, Qin says.



To the US on Taiwan

Qin blames the US for creating a diplomatic crisis with the spy balloon saga.
He says the US also agreed it was an accident that did not pose a national security threat, but Washington nonetheless violated international law and practices and abused force.
In a fierce attack against the Biden administration’s alliance-focused China strategy, Qin says the US perception of China is seriously distorted.
The US claims of competition with China are meant to contain and suppress China in all respects and push bilateral ties to a zero-sum game.
He accuses the US of ignoring international rules despite its repeated talk about rules and says the so-called guardrails the Biden administration advocates mean China does not defend its own interests.
“If the US does not hit the brakes but continues on the wrong path, there will surely be conflict and confrontation. Who will bear the catastrophic consequences?”
In a direct appeal to the American people, he recalls his experiences as Chinese ambassador in the US and notes “more and more people in the US are worried about bilateral ties”.
He says if the US has ambitions to make itself great again, it needs to have a broad mind to allow China and others to prosper.
He calls on Washington to heed on the concerns of the people on both sides and abandon the zero-sum, cold war mentality, avoid new McCarthyism and work with China to advance the interests of both countries and the world.


In detail on the US

Qin reiterates China’s peace proposal for Ukraine.
“There seems to be an invisible hand pushing for the traction and escalation of the crisis,” he says.
The Ukraine crisis is at a “critical juncture”, and calmness, reason and dialogue are needed, Qin says.
“The peace talks process should be opened immediately and the concerns of all parties should be respected,” he says.


Peace proposal

Qin says the third belt and road forum will be held this year.
He says the Belt and Road Initiative is a high-quality and sustainable public project.
It was initiated by China, jointly built by all parties and shared by the world.
Three-quarters of the world and 32 organisations have joined the initiative, Qin says.



Belt and Road Initiative

Qin says US interest rate increases have put an extra burden on indebted countries.
“China should be the last one to be accused of [creating] the so-called debt trap,” he says.
Qin says China is always committed to helping countries that have financial problems.
He adds that Beijing makes “the biggest contribution” to the Group of 20’s Common Framework for debt relief.


Debt trap

Qin says China and Japan “are close neighbours” and need each other.
To improve relations, both parties must honour their commitments to partnership rather than posing a threat to each other, he says.
Warning against historical revisionism, he says China will never forget its painful wartime history.
“Forgetting history is a betrayal and denying a crime is repeating a crime.”
Qin says China has always treated Japan with goodwill, but Japan has not reciprocated.
China and Japan must seize post-Covid opportunities, says departing envoy
This year marks the 45th anniversary of the signing of the China-Japan Treaty of Peace and Friendship.
He also calls for joint efforts between the two Asian neighbours to build a stable supply chain “to jointly inject impetus and vitality into the world’s economic recovery”.


Calling Tokyo

Qin criticises the US Indo-Pacific strategy, calling it an “Asia-Pacific version of Nato”.
He says the strategy forms a “small circle” and promotes “decoupling” in the name of freedom and openness, regional security and prosperity.
Qin says a Ukraine-style crisis should never be duplicated in the Asia-Pacific.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) should not be a proxy for a great power rivalry, and Asia should never be a chess board in a cold war, he says.


‘Asia-Pacific Nato’

Qin says China and countries in the Middle East agreed to elevate cooperation through the first Arab and Gulf summits in Saudi Arabia and the recent visit of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.
Qin says China supports strategic independence for the Middle East, and opposes interference from external forces.
“We will not fill the so-called [power] vacuum, and will not engage in exclusive circles, and are willing to be partners in promoting security and prosperity,” Qin says.


To the Middle East

Qin says concerns over China’s economic outlook are “unnecessary”.
China’s projected economic growth this year is around 5 per cent, which is higher than many economies in the world, he says.



China’s economic outlook

Qin is asked whether China aims to strengthen political and economic relations with the European Union, given Beijing’s tensions with Washington.
He says China-Europe engagement is an independent choice, and China-Europe relations are not targeted at, dependent on, or subject to any third party.


EU ties

On “Wolf Warrior” diplomacy, Qin says describing Chinese diplomats as Wolf Warriors is a “narrative trap”.
He says the American media described him as a Wolf Warrior when he first arrived, and questioned why that is gone now that he has returned to China.
“Those who create this narrative trap either do not understand China and Chinese diplomacy, or ignore the facts and have ulterior motives,” he says.
“Chinese diplomacy has enough kindness and goodwill, but when wolves get in the way and wolves attack, Chinese diplomats must ‘dance with wolves’ to defend their home and country.”



Wolf Warrior?

Qin responds to 14 questions during the press conference – far fewer than his predecessor Wang Yi in recent years.
In 2021 and 2022, Wang took 27 questions in a similar amount of time.


14 questions

Here are the main points from Foreign Minister Qin Gang’s NPC press conference:

Qin says China has not supplied weapons to Russia


Qin takes aim at the US for a series of global problems. He says there seems to be an “invisible hand” pushing to escalate the crisis in Ukraine; US interest rate rises are triggering debt crises; and the region does not need an Asia-Pacific version of Nato


The deterioration of China-US relations has to be stopped, he says. If the US does not “hit the brakes, and continues on the wrong path, there will surely be conflict and confrontation”.


Qin is conciliatory on Europe, saying China will keep supporting “European integration”. He hopes Europe will truly achieve “strategic autonomy” and “long-term security and stability” after the ordeal of the war in Ukraine



He talks up China’s ties with Russia, saying they “set a good example for international relations”


Hinting at more currency cooperation with Russia, Qin says China will use whatever currency is “efficient, safe and credible”


The third belt and road forum will be held this year


China and Japan “are close neighbours” and need each other, he says


Defending Chinese diplomats, Qin says the idea of “Wolf Warrior” diplomacy is a narrative trap



As it happened: China’s ‘two sessions’ 2023: Foreign Minister Qin Gang hits out at US on Ukraine, rate rises and Taiwan

Qin says containment and suppression will not make America great and won’t stop China He also says Chinese-style modernisation is important for world development

Qin says containment and suppression will not make America great and won’t stop China

He also says Chinese-style modernisation is important for world development