Qin also criticized Washington’s decision early last month to shoot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina, repeating Beijing’s insistence that it landed over US soil by accident.
“The US side violated the spirit of international law and international practice by making presumptions of guilt, overreacting, abusing force and using the issue to create a diplomatic crisis that could have been avoided,” he said.
On Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing claims as its territory, Qin said it was the first red line in China’s relations with the United States, which is Taiwan’s most important international backer.
«The United States bears an inescapable responsibility for the creation of the Taiwan problem,» he said.
Qin said the United States failed to respect China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity by providing defensive weapons to the island, which Beijing has said it could take by force if necessary, even as the United States warns China not to supply Russia with weapons. for his war against Ukraine.
China and Russia declared an «unlimited» partnership weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine a year ago, and China has tried to appear neutral in the conflict, refraining from condemning the Russian aggression or even calling it an invasion. Qin said on Tuesday that China-Russia relations «must constantly move forward» as the world becomes more turbulent.
But Beijing strongly denies US accusations that it is considering providing Moscow with ammunition and artillery to help its fight against kyiv.
“China is not the creator of the crisis nor is it part of it, nor has it provided weapons to any of the parties to the conflict, so why should China be blamed, sanctioned, pressured or even threatened?” Qin said.
He repeated earlier calls for a negotiated solution to the Ukraine conflict, though Western officials quickly rejected a 12-point peace proposal issued by Beijing last month as too favorable to Russia.
“It is unfortunate that efforts to persuade and promote the talks have been undermined,” Qin said, “as if an invisible hand is pushing the conflict to escalate, taking advantage of the Ukraine crisis to achieve certain geopolitical intentions.”
Eric Baculinao reported from Beijing and Jennifer Jett from Hong Kong.
