After war talk, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi presents Beijing as source of ‘precious stability’

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has cast China as a source of ‘precious stability’ in a world made increasingly chaotic by Donald Trump’s America.

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks at a press conference on Friday. Picture: AFP

Xi Jinping’s top foreign affairs adviser has cast China as a source of “precious stability” in a world made increasingly chaotic by Donald Trump’s America while vowing Beijing would “firmly counter” tariffs or other hostile acts from Washington.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday avoided the war talk used by one of his underlings this week as he used an annual platform at China’s flagship “Two Sessions” political meeting to present his country as a benign rising power.

But Mr Xi’s most senior diplomat also used the stage to warn the Trump administration that there would be consequences if it continued its strong arm tactics with China.

“No country should fantasise that it can suppress China and maintain good relations with China,” Mr Wang said, calling such an approach “two-faced”.

“If you choose to cooperate, you can achieve mutually beneficial and win-win results. If you use only pressure, China will firmly counter,” he said.

“Imagine if every country emphasised their own priority and believed in strength and status, the world would fall back into the law of the jungle,” he added.

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi waves as he leaves a press conference during the ongoing National People's Congress in Beijing on Friday. Photo: AFP

In a highly choreographed press conference – which Beijing uses to indicate priority areas in its foreign affairs – the Chinese foreign minister presented China as a champion of peace in Ukraine and Gaza, while dismissing complaints about its military coercion in the South China Sea as “shadow puppetry” driven by external forces.

Australia was not mentioned during the almost two hour long address, demonstrating its relatively low priority for Beijing’s foreign policy planners.

China this week set a 5 per cent growth target for the year ahead, a rate that analysts think will stretch Chinese policy makers.

Underlining the challenging international environment, the Trump administration launched a new 10 per cent tariff on all Chinese imports, which it timed to begin just as the China’s biggest annual political meeting got under way. China immediately responded with more targeted tariffs of 10-15 per cent on American agricultural goods.

Tension over the trade tit-for-tat further escalated this week as China’s foreign ministry spokesman canvassed going to war with the US, in a fiery answer to a question about the new tariffs. “If war is what the US wants – be it a tariff war, a trade war, or any other type of war, we’re ready to fight till the end,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said.

The Chinese spokesman walked those comments back late on Thursday, after US Defence secretary said America was “prepared” for war China, while stressing that Washington was not seeking one.

“We’ve always held the clear-cut view that whatever kind of war it is, a tariff war or a trade war, a cold war or a hot war, they should not be fought and cannot be won,” the Chinese foreign ministry spokesman clarified. 

On Friday, the Chinese foreign minister tried to portray a less pugnacious China, arguing that under Mr Xi’s leadership the country had injected “precious stability” into an increasingly chaotic world.

Wang also sought to dismiss the “reverse Nixion” notion that China’s friendly relations with Russia could be harmed by Trump’s apparent courtship of Vladimir Putin,

“No matter what the changes in the international environment, it won’t affect the friendly relations between China and Russia,” he said.

Mr Wang called for negotiations to end the war in Ukraine and an end to hostility in the Middle East, saying “conflict has no winners, and peace has no losers”.

Minutes later, Wang warned that support for Taiwan, the self-governed island which China claims as its territory, was “playing with fire”.

Beijing this week increased the People’s Liberation Army’s budget by a nominal 7.2 per cent, continuing a decades-long military build-up that has ­rattled many in the region.

The increase takes China’s ­official military spending to 1.784665 trillion yuan ($398bn) – about eight times the amount Australia spends on defence. Analysts believe China’s actual military spending is much higher.

Chinese state media dismissed concerns about the build up as “scaremongering” and pointed to efforts by America and allies, including Australia, Canada, France, Japan and the United Kingdom, to engage in military exercises close to Chinese territory, as well as pointing out the US military bases that surround China’s east coast.

“Most people faced with an armed and hostile gang provocatively getting in their face with aggressive taunts and provocative acts would likely wish to have the means to deter an attack or protect themselves if necessary,” argued the China Daily in an editorial on Friday.

“The aggressive posturing and military activities of the US and its allies in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea also serve as a reminder to China of the need to modernise its military to safeguard its territorial integrity,” the government-owned masthead said.