China calls itself ‘defender of international order’ after fresh accusations by US

China called itself a “defender of international order” after US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) wants to rewrite the rules of international order. As Esper approaches the start of his second year in office, he raised concern over a rising China under CCP, saying Chinese want to rewrite the rules of the international order that have served the nations of the world.

Esper said that China and Russia are top strategic competitors in the era of power competition but acknowledged that China is the “bigger problem”, given its population and economy. He added that China has the ambition to displace the United States, “certainly from the region and preferably on the global stage”.

Responding to the accusations, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a regular press briefing that China only wants to rewrite the old pattern of "seeking hegemony when growing stronger" into peaceful development and win-win cooperation. He said that “certain” US politicians have been “oppressing” China out of Cold-War mindset and zero-sum game mentality.

“It's one major reason behind the unprecedented challenges facing China-US relations,” he added.

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'Shifting the blame'

Wang said that America should respect and acknowledge the fact that the CCP is endorsed by all Chinese people, urging the US to not try to sow discord between the CCP and the Chinese people. The Foreign Ministry spokesperson also targeted US State Secretary Mike Pompeo for the latter’s virus “cover-up” allegations on China.

Wang said that the US won’t get out of trouble by shifting the blame to China, hoping the United States will adopt a “responsible attitude” towards the lives and health of the people. Referring to a recent state of the editor-in-chief of The Lancet, a leading medical journal, the spokesperson said that “some countries” did nothing for weeks even after the World Health Organisation and China explained what was happening as early as January.

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