Pretoria - In his speech on October 24, US Vice President Mike Pence intentionally misrepresented China’s social system, human rights and religious conditions, wantonly smeared China’s domestic and foreign policies, and touted the so-called “tough policy on China”.
These remarks, just like those in his speech last October, are full of political bias and lies, and reveal nothing but his arrogance and hypocrisy.
China expresses strong indignation and firm opposition to that.
Over the past 70 years since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the Chinese people, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), have explored a development path suited to China’s national conditions and achieved remarkable progress. China’s economic growth rate has been leading major world economies and China has contributed over 30% of the world economic growth for many consecutive years.
China is now the world’s second largest economy, the largest industrial country, and the largest trader in goods and will soon become the world’s largest consumer market. History and facts have illustrated that the path China has chosen is the right one that enjoys support and endorsement of the Chinese people.
The Chinese people are in the best position to tell how the human rights conditions are in China.
Over the past four decades since the inception of reform and opening-up, China’s human rights cause has witnessed tremendous progress. More
than 800 million Chinese people have been lifted out of poverty. China now has the world’s largest middle-income population. By 2020, all the 1.4 billion Chinese people will shake off poverty and China will complete the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, which will be a miracle in the 5,000-year history of Chinese civilization and in the history of human development.
The Chinese people of all ethnic groups enjoy full religious freedom in accordance with the law. Nearly 200 million Chinese people practice various religions, of which more than 20 million are Muslims. There are 24,400 mosques in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region alone, more than twice that of the United States (about 2 000 mosques), Britain (1 750 mosques), France (2 500 mosques) and Germany (3 000 mosques) combined. Now the theists and atheists live in harmony in China and work together for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
The Chinese government resolutely safeguards national sovereignty, security and development interests. Issues related to Taiwan, Hong Kong
and Xinjiang are all China’s internal affairs which brook no external interference. A handful of US politicians headed by Mr Pence are distorting
facts with wanton accusations and slanders, aiming to meddle in China’s internal affairs and contain China’s development and rise.
The Chinese nation is striding forward on the journey of realising its great dream like a speeding train. No force can stop it.
China owes its development to self-reliance, and the diligence, wisdom and hard work of the Chinese people as well as openness, equality,
respect and win-win cooperation instead of “stealing” as the US claims. This is blatant slander.
China is a country with 5,000 years of civilization. Can the “four great inventions” be stolen? No country in the world can achieve development by “stealing”, let alone China, a big country with 1.4 billion people. China now has the world-renowned high-speed railway and 5G technology. The US has neither of these technologies, how can it claim that China steal them from it?
China is committed to strengthening intellectual property rights protection and pursues innovation-driven development. Since 2013, China has invested more than 2% of its GDP in scientific research annually, second only to the United States. In 2018, China’s import and export of intellectual property royalties exceeded $35 billion. According to the international ranking of the patent applications of global enterprises, three Chinese enterprises ranked among the top 10, among which Huawei ranked first with 5,405 applications. Huawei alone spends more than $20 billion on scientific research annually.
The United States’ sanctioning and banning of Huawei will impair the right of people around the world, including those in Africa, to embrace the
Fourth Industrial Revolution and achieve greater development.
China is committed to reform and opening up and creating a favorable environment for foreign companies to invest in China. All foreign companies abiding by Chinese laws and regulations enjoy full business freedom in their operation. There is no such thing as enterprises being “coerced” in China.
According to a report recently released by the World Bank, China has been elevated to the 31st place in the overall ranking of the global business environment, which is the first time for China to rank among the top 40 and the second year in a row that China has become one of the top 10 economies in the world with the greatest improvement in business environment. In the first half of 2019, China attracted $73 billion of foreign investment, up by 4% year on year, which enables China to maintain the second largest recipient of foreign investment and the developing economy with the largest inflow of foreign investment in the world. This is a vote of confidence in China’s reform, opening-up and economic prospects.
As a responsible major country, China is aboveboard and upright on the international stage. China has never exhausted all its resources to build up military, waged wars against other countries, or occupied an inch of foreign territory.
With regard to the disputes on territory, rights and interests with other countries, China is always committed to peaceful settlement through dialogue and negotiations, instead of resorting to the use of force or the threat of force.
On the contrary, the situation in the Middle East continues to be volatile and war-torn. More than 100,000 people have been killed, and millions of people have been displaced. It cannot be clearer who is responsible for this biggest humanitarian disaster in recent years. It is nothing but hypocritical that the perpetrator is still talking about the so-called “human rights”.
China never puts itself first or prioritizes its own interests, but pursues win-win and all-win cooperation. That is why China’s the Belt and Road Initiative on the basis of planning together, building together and sharing together is universally recognized by the international community.
China never violates or withdraws from the conventions it has signed, or acts like some countries which are always flip-flopping and do not take international agreements and treaties seriously. China was forced to be absent at the 70th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) held in the United States on October 21 because the US “weaponized” the visa issue by not issuing visas to Chinese participants.
The US has repeatedly flouted international responsibilities and obligations, and obstructed normal international exchanges and cooperation,
which has been unanimously condemned by all people who uphold justice.
China firmly fulfills its international responsibilities and honors the commitments it made to the world. China is the second largest contributor to the United Nations membership dues and the United Nations peacekeeping funds, and has paid in full and never in arrears. China never bullies or interferes in other countries’ internal affairs, but believes that all countries, large or small, are all equal and shall respect each other. Even when leader of a country with a population of only several thousand visits China, we likewise greet him or her with red carpets, 21 salute guns and guard of honour.
China never blames or shifts its own problems onto other countries. We are opposed to putting one’s domestic law above the international law
and wantonly imposing unilateral sanctions or long-arm jurisdiction on other countries. Through its own efforts, China has proactively adapted to
and integrated itself into globalization, firmly upholds multilateralism and free trade, and advocates an open world economy. It is there for all to see.
Attempts to put labels on China or drive a wedge between China and other countries will never succeed. While arbitrarily accusing and lecturing other countries, Mr. Pence and his like turned a blind eye to the serious domestic problems in the US and tried to cover their own political malpractice by smearing other countries to divert public attention in the US. It is ridiculous to ask others to take medicine when one itself is ill.
From the PRISM program to the frequent and severe shootings, from extensive racial discrimination to the obvious wealth gap, from arbitrary sanctions and use of force against other countries to wanton withdrawals from international agreements and treaties, all the bad track record shows that the US has gone bankrupt in morality and credibility.
You can never wake up a person who pretends to be sleeping. We advise some people in the US to look in the mirror, wash clean their own faces
and mind their own business before flagrantly leveling unwarranted accusations against other countries. They must stop talking utter nonsense
and playing mutually detrimental tricks.
We have also noted that Mr. Pence said in his speech that the United States does not want to decouple from China or seek to contain China, and it is willing to develop constructive relations with China. We hope that the US will keep its word instead of backtracking on its commitments. After all, China and the US are the two most important major countries in maintaining world peace and promoting common development. The globe is big enough for China and the US to coexist peacefully for common development.
We are ready to work with the US to follow the consensus reached by our two heads of state and act on the principle of coordination, cooperation and stability which underpin our bilateral relations, to manage differences with mutual respect, expand mutually beneficial cooperation, and work for the steady progress of China-US relations. For this represents the shared aspirations of people all over the world, including the people in China and the United States.
* The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
** Contact the Chinese Embassy in South Africa at [email protected]