Published 17:37 IST, July 18th 2020
China and Russia's Foreign Ministers oppose 'US unilateralism' in phone call: Reports
The foreign minister of China held telephonic talks with their Russian counterparts on July 17 in which both of them reportedly opposed the “US unilateralism”.
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The foreign minister of China held telephonic talks with their Russian counterparts on July 17 in which both of them opposed the “US unilateralism”. According to the Chinese state news agency Xinhua report, China’s Wang Yi told Russia’s Sergei Lavrov that Beijing feels the United States was renewing the ‘Cold War mentality’ in the policies introduced against China. The report even quoted Russian foreign minister saying that Moscow opposed the unilateralism in global affairs. These thoughts exchanged between China and Russia came in the backdrop of spiralling relations between Washington and Beijing, officials of which have publicly indulged in a war of words several times since the beginning of the year.
Recently, China’s foreign ministry said on July 17 that American officials have “lost their minds and gone mad” while dealing with Beijing. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying lashed out on US Attorney general Bill Barr who had previously accused the Asian superpower of mounting an "economic blitzkrieg" to replace the US as the world's pre-eminent power and spread its political ideology across the globe.
According to Hua, Barr along with other American officials including US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are attempting to criticise China in a bid to shift the narrative from its own domestic political problems. The Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said in the press briefing on Friday that “for self-interest and political gain” the US officials “hijack” the public opinion. She further gave an example of sparrow being unable to understand Swan’s ambition and accused the United States of making “serious misjudgement”.
AG Barr claims China is engaged in an aggressive campaign to "surpass the #US as the world's preeminent #superpower" & "overthrow the rules-based international system". That's serious misjudgement of China's strategic intentions and underestimation of China's noble aspirations. pic.twitter.com/LUazXSPlvC
— Spokesperson发言人办公室 (@MFA_China) July 17, 2020
China dismisses accusations of stealing vaccine research
Meanwhile, as the global coronavirus infections surpass 14.1 million, China has also dismissed the accusations made by the US that the former is attempting to access US vaccine research with an aim to steal it. Hua Chunying took to Twitter to not only reject the claims made by America but also saying that China is leading the research and development for COVID-19. However, the global death toll of COVID-19 pandemic has reached 602,711 and the United States has recorded over 3.6 million cases of coronavirus infections with 139,266 casualties.
17:37 IST, July 18th 2020