In the past year, China has had to resist provocations and containment efforts by the United States, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.

“Because the United States stubbornly continued to perceive China as its main competitor and engaged in blatant containment, suppression and provocation against China, Sino-US relations have faced serious difficulties,” Wang Yi said at a symposium on Chinese diplomacy.

The Chinese foreign minister stressed that his country has taken decisive action to counter power politics and intimidation.

“No hegemonic force could intimidate us, we acted decisively to protect the fundamental interests and national dignity of China,” RIA Novosti quotes him as saying.

Wang Yi also recalled the provocative visit of Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan and noted that China has responded by taking measures to protect its sovereignty and security.

At the same time, the head of Chinese diplomacy expressed confidence that the rejection of confrontation is in the interests of both states.

“Playing competition only brings harm, not good, and the pursuit of cooperation is a necessity, not an option,” Wang Yi said, urging the United States to change its course.

Taiwanese demarche 

Pelosi's visit to Taiwan was indeed one of the landmark episodes in US-China relations in 2022 and the culmination of growing tensions in them, political analysts say.

“Washington is putting pressure on China and is constantly trying to launch trial balloons like this visit to see how they react.

The United States is always trying to provoke the enemy, but to do it in such a way that there is no unambiguously sharp reaction on his part, but there is a choice: to accept the situation or to react harshly at your own peril and risk, ”said an expert from the International Institute for Humanitarian and Political Studies in an interview with RT Research Vladimir Bruter.

  • Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan

  • Gettyimages.ru

  • © Taiwanese MFA / Anadolu Agency

The island of Taiwan, located 180 km off the southeast coast of mainland China, has been governed by its own authorities since 1949 and retains the flag and other attributes of the Republic of China that existed on the mainland before the communist victory in the civil war.

At the same time, official Beijing considers the island one of the provinces of the PRC and declares the imminent reunification of Taiwan with mainland China within the framework of one state.

Despite the fact that Washington talks about adherence to the principle of one China, the support of the island by the US authorities remains one of the most sensitive moments in relations with China.

The United States regularly sends warships to the Taiwan Strait and provides military assistance to the island.

Recall, Nancy Pelosi announced her intention to visit Taiwan as part of her Asian tour at the end of July.

Pelosi is the third person in the US political hierarchy after the president and vice president, and the plans for such a visit were clearly provocative a priori.

The last time the speaker of the House of Representatives visited Taiwan in 1997, it was Republican Newt Gingrich.

At the same time, uncertainty about the resonant visit of Pelosi to the island persisted until the last moment.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry warned Washington that this trip would lead to "serious consequences", and Beijing would take decisive measures to protect state sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Pelosi's intention to come to the island heated up the situation to such an extent that some representatives of expert circles in the Chinese media suggested shooting down the plane of the Speaker of the House of Representatives or firing a warning volley along his route.

It is worth noting that the Biden administration, amid criticism of Pelosi's visit, actually withdrew from this situation.

The White House only stated that the speaker has the right to do so, like any American congressman.

Almost 3 million people followed the flight of the Pelosi plane on the Flightradar24 service.

As a result, the speaker nevertheless arrived on the island on the evening of August 2.

She was greeted at the Taipei airport by Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu and US Representative Sandra Oudkirk.

The speaker also met with President Tsai Ing-wen, and Pelosi stayed in Taiwan for about 20 hours in total.

Beijing regarded this visit as a provocation and a violation of its sovereignty.

The Chinese military has conducted large-scale rocket-firing military exercises in six areas around Taiwan.

Nancy Pelosi herself, upon returning to the United States, told the American media that "it was worth it" and that Washington "cannot allow the Chinese government to isolate Taiwan."

Less than two weeks after Pelosi, a delegation of U.S. congressmen from both parties arrived on the island.

Security threat 

In October, the White House released a new US National Security Strategy that called China "the only competitor that is both willing and able to change the international order."

The document noted that the PRC has an increasing economic, diplomatic, military and technological potential to achieve these goals.

“Beijing claims to create an expanded sphere of influence in the Indo-Pacific region and become a leading world power,” the authors of the document argued.

Attention was also paid to the rapprochement of China with Russia, which is also supposed to be contained.

  • Military parade in Beijing

  • AP

  • © Mark Schiefelbein

From the point of view of political scientists, the outgoing year has clearly demonstrated that relations between the United States and China have finally taken the form of strategic rivalry. 

“The United States has decided that it must remain a world hegemon for the foreseeable future, which no one can challenge in the economic, military, political or ideological spheres.

And China is their main rival in these areas, so the Americans are making every effort to, if not stop, then at least slow down the development of China and the growth of its influence, ”said the head of the China Economics and Politics Sector of the Center for Asian Economics in a commentary to RT. Pacific Research IMEMO RAS Sergei Lukonin.

Moreover, the expert does not expect that this course will change in the foreseeable future.

“The US will continue to contain China.

This activity can take various forms, but it will not come to a direct military confrontation.

But America will nevertheless strive to create points of tension along the border with China, ”the political scientist emphasized.

Vladimir Bruter agrees with this assessment.

“While China proposes to push back a possible confrontation as much as possible, Washington thinks otherwise.

This can be seen in the actions of the United States in relation to their other strategic adversary - Russia.

Washington wants to bring the situation closer to a critical point, but will do it in such a way as to shift all responsibility onto the opponent, ”the analyst explained.

From his point of view, the US will continue to arm Taiwan, and the Biden administration will make provocative statements.

“The United States intends to dictate to China the conditions under which Taiwan's potential integration will take place.

Washington requires everyone to discuss such issues with him.

Naturally, China will be against it.

But the White House will continue to raise the stakes, but to what extent depends, among other things, on the state of relations with Russia," Bruter concluded.