China calls on US to stop 'microphone diplomacy'

(Baonghean.vn) - Differences between the United States and China over the South China Sea and cybersecurity should not be resolved by "microphone diplomacy" but instead "in a proper way" for President Xi Jinping's visit to the US to be successful this year, a senior Chinese diplomat said on June 10.

US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping at an event in Beijing in November 2014.

Wu Xi, China's deputy ambassador in Washington, said petty issues should not be allowed to overshadow US-China relations and that common interests, including bilateral trade worth $550 billion last year, "far outweigh" differences between the two countries.

“Resorting to microphone diplomacy, or pointing fingers at each other, will not solve any problems,” Wu said at a meeting on Capitol Hill to mark the 10th anniversary of the US-China Congressional Working Group. “The right choice is to recognize our differences, respect each other, and engage in real dialogue,” she said. “The choice we make today will determine the future of our two great nations, as well as the entire world.”

Wu was referring to disagreements between Washington and Beijing over China's increasingly assertive pursuit and claims in the South China Sea that have raised fears of military confrontation, and a large-scale cyberattack on the US government that US officials have blamed on Chinese hackers.

China has called the cyberattack allegations irresponsible and said it has every right to build artificial islands in disputed territory. Wu said the two sides should use the annual US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue meetings from June 22-24, and a visit to the United States by a top Chinese military official this week, to prepare for a successful outcome to Xi Jinping's visit to Washington in September. "We need to properly resolve our differences," she told reporters.

Wu said she did not see any US-China “tensions”, the two countries shared common interests in peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region and differences were always discussed.

US Representative Rick Larson, a co-founder of the bipartisan US-China Working Group, said the world’s two largest economies, the United States and China, “cannot be unconnected.” He called the South China Sea and the “indications” that cyberattacks originating in China a “very difficult” issue that cannot be pushed aside. “We can’t hide and hide from it,” he said.

Phuong Thao

(According to Reuters)