By Athena Papakosta

Beijing is sending a tough message to Washington as it warns that China will adopt a tougher stance towards the United States of America.

In his first press conference since taking office – last December – Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang stressed that the United States and China will face off and end up in conflict if Washington does not change its approach and continue to increase tension in their bilateral relations.

Gang’s rhetoric defies predictions that China may abandon “Warrior Wolf” diplomacy for a softer and more moderate policy stance as the two superpowers clash over trade, technology, human rights, Taiwan and Russia. invasion of Ukraine.

In particular, the head of Chinese diplomacy in the context of the annual meeting of the Chinese Parliament underlined that “if the United States does not press the brakes but continues to accelerate on the wrong path, no buffer will be enough to prevent the derailment of relations and then there will definitely be a clash and a showdown.”

He went on to say that “such antagonism is a reckless risk with the stake lying in the fundamental interests of the two peoples even for the future of humanity”.

John Kirby, a spokesman for the US National Security Council, responded that US policy towards China remains consistent. “There is no change in the position of the United States regarding our bilateral relations. The president (Joe Biden) believes that obviously this tension needs to be recognized but a solution can be found. We seek competition, not conflict.”

The position of the top Chinese diplomat, who had even served as China’s Ambassador to Washington, followed the speech of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who on Monday openly targeted the United States for the first time, stressing that “Western countries under the leadership of the US have set implementing a complete policy of containment, encirclement and suppression of China, a fact which raises unprecedented challenges for the development of our country”.

The clouds in Sino-American relations are already thickening since the administration of Donald Trump in the United States who had launched a trade war against China. The two countries are firmly at odds over a series of issues which, however, have multiplied over time. Even the Biden-Xi meeting last fall didn’t tone things down.

Just a month ago, the tension between these two countries hit red again after the downing of the Chinese balloon by the US Air Force, with Washington insisting that it was a spy balloon and China vehemently denying it. The event also led to the postponement of the planned visit of the American Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken to the country.

At the same time, the West is watching with suspicion Beijing’s attitude towards the Russian invasion of Ukraine insisting that China not supply Moscow with weapons. For Xi, however, things are different as he wonders “why is the US asking China not to supply arms to Russia while they are still selling arms to Taiwan?”.

Analysts are raising concerns about a new type of cold war as they observe that Beijing is publicly using words it is not used to and its stance is raising concerns abroad as it in turn raises the bar against Washington, which has until now been the one raising the bar. voice first but which even now chooses to maintain a political dialogue with Beijing.

So the deck is reshuffled with the two superpowers fighting, for now, in words.