Chinese diplomat warns US against 'McCarthy-style paranoia', calls for cooperation

China's foreign minister Wang Yi on Thursday, June 9, warned the United States against 'McCarthy style paranoia' adding that its policies were based on ‘strategic misjudgments’. In a pre-recorded message to a think tank, Wang Yi said that the US should stop politicising the pandemic.

'Strategic Misjudgements'

Beijing and Washington have been battling over a couple of issues in the last few months. While the US has slammed China’s National Security legislature over Hong Kong, China on the other hand denounced the US‘ handling of the Black Lives Matter protests. Meanwhile, American President Donald Trump has continuously accused China of holding back information regarding the COVID-19 infection.

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"The current US policy toward China is based on strategic misjudgements... and McCarthy-style paranoia," the Chinese top diplomat said, referring to US senator Joseph McCarthy, who led an anti-communist crusade in his country in the 1950s.

He also warned that “artificially creating” various China threats might eventually lead to self-fulfilling prophecies. The comments come weeks after Wang said relations with the United States were "on the brink of a new Cold War", fuelled in part by tensions over the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, calling for cooperation, Yi said that both countries should come together to work and promote global cooperation in fighting the virus. 

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Meanwhile, Indian and Chinese diplomatic and military officials will continue their meetings to take forward the process of disengagement and de-escalation as agreed to by the Special Representatives — National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, the Ministry of External Affairs said on June 6. 

MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said the next meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China border affairs (WMCC) is expected to take place soon. The WMCC, set up in 2012 to address tensions along the Line of Actual Control, is headed by Naveen Srivastava, the joint secretary (East Asia) in the MEA, and Wu Jianghao, director-general in the Chinese foreign ministry.

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