China has warned that Donald Trump’s America First foreign policy could lead to the law of the jungle in international affairs with the strong bullying the weak and small countries paying the greatest price. Speaking to reporters during China’s annual legislative meeting known as the Two Sessions, foreign minister Wang Yi noted that there were more than 190 countries in the world.
“If every country emphasises its own national priorities and believes in strength and status, the world will regress to the law of the jungle, small and weak countries will bear the brunt,” he said.
“A big country should honour its international obligations and fulfil its due responsibilities. It should not put selfish interests before principles, still less should it wield the power to bully the weak.”
Trump has imposed a 20 per cent tariff on all goods imported from China, asserting that Beijing is not doing enough to stop the export of chemicals used to make the drug fentanyl. Mr Wang said China had the toughest anti-drugs regime in the world, adding that the United States should address the roots of its substance abuse problem.
Despite the tariffs, Mr Trump has said he wants better relations with China and its leader Xi Jinping but Mr Wang warned against sending mixed signals.
“No country should fantasise that it can suppress China on the one hand and develop good relations with China on the other,” he said.
“This two-faced approach is not only not conducive to the stability of bilateral relations, but also unable to establish mutual trust.”
Mr Wang, who declined to identify the US by name, faced questions about Washington’s withdrawal from international bodies such as the World Health Organisation and global treaties including the Paris climate accords. He sought to present China as a stable and reliable partner that remains committed to a system of global governance with the United Nations at its core, asserting that Beijing did not want to replace the current multilateral system but to make it more representative and inclusive.
Since the start of Trump’s second term, there have been signs of a thaw in relations between China and the European Union, which have worsened since the Russian invasion of Ukraine three years ago. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has held out the prospect of new agreements with China and Mr Wang said the two sides should intensify their strategic dialogue.
“China still has confidence in Europe,” he said.
“We also believe that Europe can be a reliable partner. Both sides have the ability and wisdom to properly handle existing issues through friendly consultations.”
Mr Wang dismissed the idea that Mr Trump’s embrace of Vladimir Putin might lead to Washington prising Moscow away from Beijing, declaring that the Sino-Russian friendship was based on a logic that was not affected by third parties. He said that in hindsight, the Ukraine war could have been avoided, suggesting that Nato expansion was among the causes of the conflict.
“All parties should learn something from the crisis,” he said.
“Among many other things, security should be mutual and equal, and no country should build its security on the insecurity of another.”
Wang was uncompromising about China’s security interests in its own neighbourhood, however, characterising Philippines as a pawn of the US in its territorial dispute with Beijing in the South China Sea. And he warned Japan that encouraging Taiwanese independence was playing with fire.
“Taiwan has never been a country; it was not in the past, and it will never be in the future,” he said.
