Beijing tells Washington not to treat China as 'imaginary enemy'

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ANKARA (AA) - Beijing on Wednesday asked Washington to stop “imagining China as an enemy.”

The statement came in response to the US Senate passing Innovation and Competition Act of 2021 which aims to boost the US’ capacities to "compete" with Chinese technology.

“China stays committed to no-conflict and no-confrontation and will firmly safeguard core interests and territorial sovereignty,” Wang Wenbin, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, told a news conference in Beijing.

“The US should not treat China as its imaginary enemy,” Wang said, urging Washington “to stop interfering in China's internal affairs”, according to Chinese public broadcaster CGTN.

The bill passed by the US Senate authorizes about $190 billion for provisions to strengthen the US technology and research -- and would separately approve $54 billion for the country’s production and research into semiconductors and telecommunications equipment.

Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) -- China's top legislature -- said in response to the development: “The bill is full of Cold War mentality and ideological prejudice, slanders China’s development path and domestic and foreign policies. Under the banner of ‘innovation and competition,’ it interferes in China’s internal affairs and seeks to contain China’s development.”

“At a time when the world enters a period of turbulence and change, the practice of treating China as an ‘imaginary enemy’ at every turn is against the general trend of the world, unpopular and doomed to fail,” the NPC said.