China not afraid of confrontation with US: FM

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China would not fear confrontation with the United States, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Monday. However, Beijing would welcome cooperation if it served bilateral interests, according to the Chinese FM.

Problems between Beijing and Washington were down to misjudgments by the United States, Wang added in a speech published on the foreign ministry's website.

"If there is confrontation, then [China] will not fear it, and will fight to the finish," he asserted.

The foreign minister affirmed that there was no harm in competition, "But it should be positive."

Relations between China and the US have been deteriorating over several issues, including the origin of COVID-19, trade, "human rights," and Washington's allegations against Beijing in Taiwan.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Joe Biden had a three-hour phone call in light of mounting tensions over Taiwan and trade.

The US Senate passed Thursday legislation to ban imports from China's Xinjiang region over Washington's allegations over the region.

Chinese President Xi Xinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin had a summit last week in which they discussed several urgent bilateral and international issues.

President Putin hailed the model Sino-Russian relations and told President Xi a "new model of cooperation has been formed between our countries," which he asserted includes a "determination to turn our common border into a belt of eternal peace and good-neighborliness."

"I consider these relations to be a real model for inter-state cooperation in the 21st century," the Russian leader said.