Persisting with its muscular in-your-face diplomatic style China, China has sanctioned 28 outgoing senior officials in the former Donald Trump administration including secretary of state Mike Pompeo.
A blunt Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said that these individuals were spreading lies, signaling that China was not departing from its aggressive wolf-warrior style of diplomatic communication.
“This notorious liar and cheater is making himself a doomed clown and a joke of the century with his show of lies and madness just before the curtain falls,” Hua Chunying, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman said, referring to Pompeo.
Notably, just before exiting, the Trump administration declared that the Chinese government repression of the Uighurs in Xinjiang was an act of genocide.
The spokeswoman however added that despite differences, there is room for cooperation between the US and China.
"I think the new administration should serve the wishes of the people, view China in a rational and objective light, and work with China on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit to put China-US relations back on the track of healthy and stable development as soon as possible,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Chinese state-owned Global Times pointed out that Biden “did not offer clear signals whether and how the new US government would seek to fix China-US relations, which reached a historical low point under Trump.”
An editorial in the newspaper said that “compared with confrontational policies, the China-US cooperation is obviously more conducive to realizing Washington's new ambitions.” “If both the US and China focus on doing their own things well and stop fighting against each other, the two countries will move forward based on their existing foundations. From this, the world will also be much more harmonious,” it added.
“The work of the Biden administration will undoubtedly be difficult. The US is facing more difficulties than it did four years ago. Its available resources are even less abundant," it pointed out.
Political pundits said that the Biden administration may tone down its anti-China rhetoric that had become former US President Donald Trump’s signature and bring in civility in the bilateral relations between the two countries, though he is expected to tow the same line as was crafted by his predecessor. “While China is relieved that Trump has exited, it is uncertain about Biden’s policies as well,” an analyst said.
Secretary for state Anthony Blinken in the newly inducted Biden administration has already gone ahead in endorsing Trump’s China policy saying that China is seeking to become the dominant world power.
A foreign policy expert pointed out that as China is getting more and more isolated globally, it is looking to build its relations with other countries. “It needs strong allies. It will be interested in mending its relations with the US, which has been one of its key trading partners,” the analyst said.
However, he also said that the decisions that Biden took just after assuming office were fairly non-controversial but policies related to China will take time. “While Biden and his team will definitely inject decency and civility in dealing with China but how much of it will translate into real action in bridging ties is the big question,” he noted.
