Photo: Chinese Foreign Ministry

In his MK sportmeeting with President Biden in Lima, Peru, President Xi Jinping reviewed the experiences from the past four years and listed the inspirations that can be drawn from them, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun on Tuesday said it is hoped the US will bear them in mind and work with China in this direction. Guo made the remarks in response to a media inquiry on US President Joe Biden's farewell foreign policy address which mentioned China, and claimed that China will "never surpass" US in economy.  

On Monday local time, the outgoing President Biden has delivered a speech reviewing and defending his administration's foreign policy in the last four years, highlighting topics like China-US relations, Russia-Ukraine conflict, Middle East situations as well as alliance and partnership in Europe and "Indo-Pacific." 

In terms of China, Biden said that "but even while we compete vigorously, we've managed our relationship with China responsibly so it's never tipped over into conflict," according to Politico. 

The US president also noted that experts once expected China's economy to surpass America's. "Now, according to the latest predictions, on China's current course, they will never surpass us," he said.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a press briefing on Tuesday that "during the past four years, China-US relations have gone through ups and downs, but have remained stable on the whole."

Under the strategic guidance of the two presidents, the two sides established through consultation several guiding principles for bilateral ties, engaged in dialogue and cooperation, resumed and created over 20 mechanisms of communication, and achieved outcomes in some areas, Guo said, "at the same time, China stood firm by its principles, safeguarded its sovereignty, security, and development interests, and responded to the US's wrong actions with resolute countermeasures."

In his meeting with President Biden in Lima, Peru, President Xi Jinping reviewed the experiences from the past four years and listed the inspirations that can be drawn from them, namely, to have a correct strategic perception, match words with actions, treat each other as equals, not to challenge red lines and paramount principles, conduct more dialogue and cooperation, respond to the expectations of the people, and step forward to shoulder the responsibilities of major countries, Guo said.

We hope the US will bear them in mind and work with China in this direction, Guo urged. 

Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times that the design of the US' China policy has a strong sense of competition and zero-sum game mentality, which is unhealthy.

In contrast, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson's remarks highlighted China's holistic view in dealing with China-US relations and the concept of win-win cooperation, while also clearly demonstrating the determination to firmly defend its own interests, Li said. "In other words, cooperation between the two sides will be win-win and mutually beneficial only if the US side respects China's legitimate and lawful right to development," Li said.

"Biden administration's poor handling US' relations with China, in turn, may have become the catalyst for the aggravation of the US domestic crisis," Li said.

While Biden touted his administration is "winning the worldwide competition," the Guardian commented that the Biden administration "has spent much of its time and political capital abroad attempting to contain a series of foreign wars and crises in which it has seemed impotent to impose its will."

"If this is winning, many Americans may struggle to imagine what losing would look like," the British media commented.

Biden gave himself a high score on foreign policy in his address, but this is far from the objective reality, considering the escalating Russia-Ukraine conflict, expanding chaos and humanitarian disasters in the Middle East, the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the risky approach against China, said Liu Weidong, a research fellow at the Institute of American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. 

"Through a self-boasting address, Biden was, for one, making it clear that he wants to leave a political legacy and is trying to keep the next administration from drastically modifying it, and for another, he is trying to assure the world, especially allies, that the US is a responsible country and they shouldn't lose faith in the US because of the upcoming administration," Liu noted.