Speaking to reporters ahead of a visit to China by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken scheduled for later this week, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that while there is competition between the two countries in areas such as economy and trade, there should be no attempts to contain or suppress each other in the name of competition, nor to deprive China of its legitimate development rights.

"This is not 'responsible competition', but irresponsible bullying. That will only push the two countries towards confrontation and create a divided world ," the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman stressed.

He called on the US to abandon the illusion of dealing with China "from a position of strength", saying that the two sides need to promote relations on the basis of mutual respect and equality, respecting differences in history, culture, social system and development, core interests and major concerns of each other.

According to Mr. Uong Van Binh, the US-China relationship “needs to serve a practical purpose and needs to find solutions to move towards that.” “What is unacceptable is that while demanding the opening of communication lines, the US continues to harm China’s interests. It cannot say one thing and do another,” he said.

"China once again urges the United States to implement President Joe Biden's positive statements: Stop interfering in China's internal affairs and harming China's interests, stop containing and suppressing China, and work together to remove obstacles, so as to gradually move China-US relations towards stability," the Chinese diplomat pointed out.

Referring to the agenda related to Mr. Blinken's visit to China, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of this country said that the two sides plan to exchange views on bilateral relations as well as urgent international and regional issues of mutual concern.

US Secretary of State will visit China on June 18 and 19. Mr. Blinken will become the first US Secretary of State to visit China in five years and the first US cabinet-level official to visit Beijing in four years.

Speaking before arriving in Beijing, Secretary of State Blinken said the first goal of his visit to China was to "establish open communication so that the two countries can manage the relationship responsibly".

He also said the trip aimed to explore possible areas of cooperation between the US and China, including global economic stability, counter-narcotics trafficking, climate and health issues.

Kong Anh (Source: Sputnik)