Could China and the US be headed for an all-out confrontation? | DW News

If China’s freshly appointed foreign minister Qin Gang is to be believed, the answer is: yes - China and the US could be headed for an all-out confrontation. At his first press conference in the post, he slammed Washington's approach of "competition without conflict" and warned that the current dynamic threatened global peace.
Speaking on the sidelines of the National People's Congress - China's rubber stamp parliament - Qin defied those expecting a more reconciliatory tone after the recent spy balloon incident and blamed the US for the war in Ukraine and rising tensions over Taiwan.

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could China and the U.S be headed for an all-out confrontation if China's freshly appointed foreign minister Qing gang is to be believed the answer is yes at his first press conference in the post he slammed Washington's approach of competition without conflict and warned that the current Dynamic threatened Global Peace speaking on the sidelines of the national people's Congress China's rubber stamp Parliament chin defied those expecting a more reconciliatory tone after the recent spy balloon incident and blamed the U.S for
00:34
the war in Ukraine and Rising tensions over Taiwan let's listen in if the United States does not hit the brakes and continues to speed down the wrong path no amount of guard rails can prevent derailing and there will surely be conflict and confrontation who will bear the catastrophic consequences this is a reckless gamble with the stakes being the fundamental interests of the peoples of our two countries and even the future of humanity naturally China is firmly opposed to all of this for more let's check in with Ava Shen
01:13
she covers China at the Eurasia group Miss Jen good to see you again now we just heard the new Chinese foreign minister is sending barely veiled threats towards Washington at his first public appearance in the post how much of an escalation is this thank you again for inviting me to the show although Mr Tim did use very harsh rhetoric when talking about the U.
01:36
S um I don't think this is as escalatory as it seems this is merely a reflection that Beijing is deepening its recognition that the competition with the US will last for this year and Beyond and it will pose negative external risks to China's development as you know China is really focused on economic recovery but there are a lot of U.
02:03
S policies that are coming out of Washington that are restricting its you know objectives to reach self-reliance in technology such as the export controls Mr Shin made sure to make it sound a lot more threatening now he was until December China's ambassador to Washington he knows the U.S very well has he always been such a hardliner I think Mr Chin is more of a complex figure so under uh you know Xi Jinping thought in Chinese foreign foreign policy China is expected to be assertive to maximizes interest on the international stage and thus Mr tin is
02:53
expected to be assertive and be ready to push back against U.S claims of China doing certain things and so Mr teen's uh remarks in this press conference is certainly very harsh but also if we see at the end of his term as the ambassador to the U.S he actually posted some pretty friendly Twitter posts in terms of um asserting his belief that the U.
03:25
S people uh are good and that he has faith in a friendly U.S China relationship but because of the balloon incident and also recent U.S allegations of China provisioning considering provisioning weapons to Russia there are certain obstacles for U.S China relations to meaningfully stabilize this year and uh the Outlook of this year for U.
03:55
S China relations is fairly dire yeah you make him sound like a sheep and wolves skin there in a way I want to take apart a couple of things he did say that made this sound like the these relations were on track for a further escalation um he said The more unstable the world becomes the more imperative it is for China and Russia to steadily Advance their relations how much of a headache could this deepening friendship become to the rest of the world including of course the United States yes China is going to continue its friendly relations with Russia but it is
04:33
uh unlikely to deliver lethal military aid to to Russia because um there will be there there will certainly be a very harsh U.S sanctioned response as uh um along with a hardening attitude toward China in Europe which is what Beijing does does not want to see and so China will instead continue to support Russia in economic terms and delivering non-lethal but dual use items such as drones or chips to support Russia because China cannot and does not want to see uh Russia Collapse by by the war and from its strategic calculus it
05:19
does not see that it distancing itself from Russia will bring any sort of Goodwill from from the U.S and if they're not planning excuse me for interrupting you there if China is not planning on delivering weapons or providing Military Support to Russia then why aren't they saying so Mr Chin's remarks did not indicate that China will send military weapons to Russia it merely indicated that China will continue its close diplomatic relationship with Russia and those those two things um are different um Jin also kept drawing parallels
06:03
between Ukraine and Taiwan saying that the U.S keeps talking about Ukraine's sovereignty but ignores what he called China's territorial Integrity by supporting Taiwan now these are obviously two very different situations are we watching Beijing set the rhetorical groundwork for an invasion I don't necessarily interpret to be so because the Chinese anti-secession law that was already passed in 2005 and has has been EX in in in existence for almost 20 20 years at this point and uh miss Mr Chin's mention of the law does
06:40
not indicate that Beijing is planning for an invasion this year or in the next couple of years China does not yet have the military capability to execute such an invasion and also the president of the Russian invasion of Ukraine has sober China to to an extent that China will certainly face a harsh sanctioned response if it tries to execute innovation of Taiwan that's based on these these factors I think that Beijing will not contemplate about invading China and invading Taiwan excuse me this year avashan of the Eurasia group always
07:21
great speaking to you many thanks for your time thank you