China Scolds ‘Two-Faced’ U.S. in Rebuke of Trump’s Agenda
U.S. approach is errant, from trade wars to Gaza, China’s foreign minister says
March 7, 2025 The Wall Street Journal
China’s top diplomat chided the Trump administration and said efforts to contain the country’s rise were destined to fail, presenting Beijing as a force for global stability in a rejection of U.S. policy under President Trump.
“No country should harbor the illusion that it can suppress and contain China while simultaneously building good relations with China,” Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Friday. “Such two-faced methods are not only detrimental to the stability of bilateral ties but also make it impossible to build mutual trust.”
Wang’s strident comments reflected Beijing’s determination to stand up to U.S. pressure, though domestic economic problems and China’s worsening ties with many traditional U.S. allies have weakened its hand since Trump ended his first term in office four years ago.
Throughout a 90-minute press conference in Beijing, Wang hardly mentioned Donald Trump’s name—though the challenges that the U.S. leader poses for China were evident throughout.
Despite being targeted by Washington, Wang said, Beijing has other relationships to nurture, including with Russia and nations in the developing world. He offered kind words for Europe, reflecting the opportunity that China senses to strengthen relations with traditional U.S. allies.
In doing so, he brushed aside the idea that Beijing’s relationship with Moscow would suffer from Trump’s overtures to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, a move seen as an effort to drive a wedge between Moscow and Beijing.
“A mature, stable and resilient China-Russia relationship will not waver from any turn of events, nor will it be subject to interference by any third party,” Wang said.
Known for his often hawkish stance toward the U.S., Wang celebrated the emergence of Chinese artificial-intelligence platform DeepSeek as testament to Chinese innovation, as Western countries seek to block the export to China of their most advanced chips.
“Where there are blockades there are breakthroughs,” Wang said. “Where there is suppression there is innovation.”
Behind Wang’s air of confidence, China faces substantial risks from rising trade frictions that threaten to unravel the global system that helped propel the country’s rise.
Official trade data released Friday showed China’s exports in January and February rose 2.3% compared with a year earlier, well below expectations as some shipments were curtailed after businesses front-loaded exports to get ahead of tariffs before they took effect.
Chinese officials are still working to figure out exactly what Trump wants on trade. While the White House says it is using tariffs to punish China for its role in America’s fentanyl crisis, Chinese officials say they see fentanyl as a pretext for undermining China’s economy.
The Trump administration imposed a 10% tariff on Chinese goods last month and piled on another 10% this week, prompting immediate trade retaliation from Beijing both times. While Trump twice dialed back tariffs aimed at Canada and Mexico, he has yet to offer such a respite to Beijing.
The recent message to the Chinese public from senior officials has been that Washington’s tariffs will come back to hurt the U.S.
“Tariff and trade wars have always started as attempts to harm others but ultimately ended in self-inflicted damage,” Chinese ambassador to the U.S. Xie Feng told reporters in Beijing this week.
As Trump promotes policies he says will strengthen and enrich America, China has eagerly presented itself as an advocate of global harmony. Even so, Beijing’s efforts face skepticism in many parts of the world, from Southeast Asia, where China has clashed with its neighbors over conflicting maritime claims, to Europe, where many distrust Beijing’s support of Moscow.
Europeans are also clashing with China on trade, including over the government’s support of Chinese electric-vehicle makers that compete directly with European car companies.
Wang, who spoke on the sidelines of an annual parliamentary gathering in Beijing, floated the prospect of improved ties. “China still has confidence in Europe and believes that Europe can become a trusted partner of China,” Wang said. “The two sides have the ability and wisdom to properly resolve the existing problems through friendly consultations.”
China has also presented itself as a leader for smaller nations, and throughout the press conference Wang made references to developing countries.
China “opposes the monopoly of international affairs by a few countries,” he said. “The voice of the Global South should be better listened to.”
He reiterated China’s support for a Palestinian state—whereas Trump has proposed that the U.S. take over Gaza and resettle its two million residents, an idea that has been rejected by Middle East powers.
“Gaza belongs to the Palestinian people and is an integral part of the Palestinian territory,” Wang said. “Any forced change in the status of Gaza will not bring peace, but will only lead to new instability.”
Wang also emphasized China’s close ties with Russia, playing down the hopes of some in the Trump administration that the U.S. could divide the two to isolate Beijing. That strategy has come to be known as a “reverse Nixon” or “reverse Kissinger,” a reference to the thaw in U.S.-China relations in the 1970s.
The Sino-Russian relationship “is a constant in a turbulent world, not a variable in the geopolitical games,” he said.
Write to Brian Spegele at Brian.Spegele@wsj.com and Austin Ramzy at austin.ramzy@wsj.com