China responds to US accusations of trade 'vulnerabilities'

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – Beijing on Thursday slammed Washington's new mantra of "mitigating" trade "vulnerabilities" from countries like China, blaming the US for "hindering" international trade cooperation.

“China opposes weaponizing trade issues and it is certain country’s unilateralism and protectionism that hinder international trade cooperation,” said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning in a statement.

Beijing’s statement came after US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday likened what she described as “Russia's weaponization of trade as a tool of geopolitical coercion” with China.

“We must mitigate similar vulnerabilities to countries like China,” Yellen told an event hosted by the Bretton Woods Committee.

The top US economy official said the Biden administration has been “outspoken about the need to reduce dependence on Chinese supply chains” and “counter Beijing's bad behavior in the global economy.”

“Friend-shoring is not meant to be a tiny handful of countries. It's not meant to be protectionism. It's something that's meant to (gain) diversity ... but still get the benefits of trade,” Yellen argued.

Responding to the US’ new National Security Strategy, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson compared it to “Cold War mentality and zero-sum games,” the Chinese daily Global Times reported.

“We disapprove of playing up geopolitical conflicts and major power competition, which run counter to the trend of the times and to the world’s expectation,” Mao said.

“China and the US benefit from cooperation, while confrontation hurts both. The US should follow the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation and work with China to bring China-US ties back to sound stability,” she added.