China's foreign minister says not looking to supplant U.S.

A soldier stands guard outside the Great Hall of the People, the venue of the ongoing National People's Congress (NPC), China's parliament, in Beijing, China, March 7, 2016.

Reuters/Jason Lee - RTS9MBD


BEIJING China is not looking to supplant the United States or become another United States, China's foreign minister said on Tuesday, suggesting Americans should look at China's 5,000 years of history to see how things will develop.


China and the United States regularly clash on everything from trade and human rights to China's claims in the disputed South China Sea, and candidates for this year's U.S. presidential election have routinely criticized China.


Speaking at his yearly news conference on the sidelines of the annual meeting of parliament, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said it was natural for the two countries to have areas of friction, though they had proved they could work together on areas like climate change.


"The root of these frictions is that some people in the United States still have strategic misgivings about China, and are worried China will one day replace the United States," Wang said.


"I want to stress here again, China is not the United States, and China cannot possibly become another United States," he added.


"We've no intention of replacing or leading anyone, and I suggest American friends study and understand more about China's 5,000 years of accumulated historical and cultural traditions and not just blindly apply American thinking to judge China," Wang said.


"If they're clear on this point, the prospects for Sino-U.S. ties will become bright."


It is not clear to what part of history he was referring, but Chinese empires in the past have included all of the Korean peninsula, modern Mongolia and parts of Russia and Southeast Asia.


(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Nick Macfie)

 

China is a very different country from the US, so supplant the US is something very vague. In economic terms they are growing bit time, so lets see what happens in the next years.

 

I think the time for China's rise is upon us. This century China will be the dominant nation and the superpower US was in 20th century.

 

Many people have the mentality that China is the best country in the world, and that the economy will surpass the US, UK and other developed countries' economies someday. I live in China and I seriously think with all the new plans and laws, China is going backwards. The internet for one is already heavily censored and they plan to censor it more, the economy is getting worse and worse everyday and there is a housing bubble going on. Ghost apartment cities keep being built.

 

Wow, China is the best country in the world, really? A country with no freedom of speech? Hardly that, their economy is boosting simple because they work many many hours...