Washington would be "condescending", would do well to "sort out its deep internal problems" before teaching others any lessons, and would have used its military and financial might to "suppress countries" and "incite" others to attack China.
Yang Jiechi, the Chinese chief diplomat, did not mince words on the first day of the China-US summit in Alaska on Thursday, March 18.
An aggressive tone that would have taken Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, by surprise, the New York Times understands.
The wolves soldiers pull out their claws
However, the American camp was the first to pull out its claws by ensuring that it wanted to hold Beijing to account for Hong Kong, Taiwan and the situation of the Muslim minority of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang.
"It was a way of indicating that the Biden administration will not be satisfied with an economic confrontation as was the case with Donald Trump, but also intends to engage in a political balance of power," said Marc Julienne, head of China activities at the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri), contacted by France 24.
US delegations were to expect a reaction, "but the maximalist approach taken by the Chinese foreign minister was probably more vehement than expected," said Andrew Small, China-US relations expert at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, a German think tank specializing in international relations, contacted by France 24.
It is indeed "the first time that China has applied what has come to be called the diplomacy of wolf soldiers at such a level of negotiation", recognizes Marc Julienne.
This concept denotes the threatening and aggressive attitude adopted by the young diplomatic guard of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
But this pack has so far only revealed its fangs on Twitter, in press releases or at embassies.
Not on such important occasions as the first "face-to-face" meeting between China and representatives of a brand new US administration.
Where does this need to break with the traditional hushed tone of these diplomatic high masses come from?
It would be a reaction to a Biden administration which has "multiplied the actions in recent weeks making the Chinese understand that there was nothing concrete to expect from this summit," said Antoine Bondaz, researcher at the Foundation. for strategic research and specialist in Asia, contacted by France 24.
Communication operation
for Chinese opinion
The US president met on March 12 with Australian, Japanese and Indian leaders to breathe new life into the "Quad", an alliance formed in 2007 to counterbalance Chinese power.
Antony Blinken chose Asia for his first official trip as secretary of state and visited Japan and South Korea, two direct rivals to China.
For Beijing, these are all signs suggesting that Washington would be more attached to reactivating an anti-Chinese front than to engaging in constructive dialogue.
"The Chinese reaction is all the more lively as the return of multilateralism in the American diplomatic strategy under Joe Biden is considered more worrying by Beijing than the direct face-to-face advocated by Donald Trump," said Peter Gries, director of Manchester Chinese Institute at the University of Manchester, contacted by France 24.
>> To read also: "With China, Joe Biden follows in the footsteps of Donald Trump, except for the method"
“So there was a need for the Chinese to make it clear that they are not impressed with the efforts of the Biden administration. They have raised their voices because they cannot afford to appear weak in their own right. balance of power with Washington ", summarizes Antoine Bondaz.
In this regard, the offensive attitude of the Chinese delegation "derives above all from the communication operation in the direction of its national public opinion", affirms Andrew Small, specialist of the German Marshall Fund of the United States.
All the propaganda of the Chinese Communist Party tends to galvanize the nationalist sentiment of the population around the idea, defended by President Xi Jinping, that the historic place of China is at the top of the food chain of the great powers.
The accusatory and vehement tone used against American diplomats "is also a staging of the balance of power to demonstrate to the Chinese population that Beijing is on an equal footing with Washington and remains capable of defending the superiority of its political model" , sums up Peter Gries.
European sanctions to come
It's like a game of poker, believes Marc Julienne, the Ifri specialist.
The United States made the first bet by touring historic allies and broaching politically sensitive subjects like Hong Kong or the Uyghurs, and the Chinese decided to "outbid the verbal escalation", he said. .
A game that can prove to be dangerous for Beijing.
If, after the summit in Alaska, Washington decides to keep raising the stakes, China will have to reveal its game in the end. It is, of course, a leading economic giant capable of standing up to Washington in a war. commercial.
But for the rest, it remains "an incomplete power compared to the United States," says Marc Julienne.
It does not yet have the network of alliances that Washington has and "its army does not, technologically speaking, have the capacity to project the United States", concludes the Ifri researcher.
A first test for China's will to present itself as a power of the same caliber as the United States will take place early next week.
The European Union is due to announce, Monday, March 22, economic sanctions against Beijing in reaction to the policy towards the Uyghurs.
These will be the first European sanctions targeting China since the repression of the Tian'anmen protests in 1989. The Chinese reaction will say a lot about its real feeling of power.
For Antoine Bondaz, Beijing will be "obliged to respond, but China may be tempted not to do too much" for fear of pushing the Europeans a little more into Washington's arms.
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