Although he said relations have improved since the meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his American counterpart Joe Biden in California last year, Washington’s misperceptions about China still linger and its promises have not been fulfilled.

“The US has been devising various tactics to suppress China,” he said. “If the US says one thing and does another, where is its credibility as a major country? If it gets jittery whenever it hears the word China, where is its confidence as a major country?”

He also responded to recent comments by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken – who told a security conference in Munich that “if you’re not at the table in the international system, you’re going to be on the menu” – by saying Beijing cannot allow “a few big countries to monopolise international affairs”.

Taiwan

On this most sensitive of issues, Wang repeated Beijing’s mantra that it would strive for peaceful reunification, but warned that those who support Taiwanese independence will “get burned for playing with fire”.

The status of the island is a major source of contention with the US and Beijing has never renounced the use of force to bring it back under its control. The US, in common with most countries, does not recognise Taiwan as independent but opposes any forcible change to the status quo.

Russia and Ukraine

Wang said China’s partnership with Moscow has been moving forward on a “high-level”, with deepening trust and fresh opportunities ahead. He stressed that deepening this relationship was “not targeted at any party”.

In response to a separate question about the Ukraine war – now in its third year – he said China has an objective and impartial position, and supported the idea of holding a peace conference involving both Moscow and Kyiv. “The earlier the talks start, the sooner peace will come,” Wang added.

South China Sea

He said differences in the disputed waters should be properly managed through dialogue and that disputes should be resolved by negotiations between claimant states.

Philippines accuses China of ‘deliberately stirring up trouble’ in disputed sea

Wang did not not mention any specific country in his response but warned that countries outside the region should not become disrupters in the South China Sea.

Israel-Gaza war

Wang called for a broad-based and authoritative international peace conference to come up with a road map to end the crisis.

He called on the international community to act promptly to promote an immediate ceasefire and repeated China’s support for a two-state solution.

02:40

Chinese Premier Li Qiang delivers his first work report amid concerns about state of the economy

Chinese Premier Li Qiang delivers his first work report amid concerns about state of the economy

Europe

He said China and Europe should be “defenders of multilateralism”, adding that cooperation should define their relationship.

What he didn’t say

One of the main questions in the mind of many observers beforehand was the fate of the previous foreign minister Qin Gang, who was abruptly removed from his post last year just months after succeeding Wang. To little surprise, Wang did not take any questions or offer any explanation about Qin’s disappearance.

Although Wang fielded 21 questions there was nothing that touched specifically on two of China’s biggest neighbours India and Japan, with more focus on China’s relations with developing nations in other parts of the world.

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