It’s completely wrong to use competition to define China-US relations, because it leads nowhere but confrontation and conflicts, said a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Thursday.

(File photo: CFP)

“China firmly opposes US actions to exclude, contain and suppress China under the banner of competition,” said ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian at a press briefing in Beijing in response to a question citing comments by Kurt Campbell, US National Security Council coordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs.

“As two main powers, China and US share broad common interests in maintaining world peace and stability as well as promoting world economic recovery and development,” Zhao said.

“China and the US stand to gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation.”

At a Stanford University event on Wednesday, Campbell claimed that the US is entering a period of “intense competition” with China and the era of engagement is over.

There was indeed China-US competition, Zhao noted, just like other major powers. But it was “completely wrong” to define China-US relations in terms of competition, as that would only lead to “confrontation and conflict.”

Competition between China and the US should aim for mutual improvement and common progress, rather than “vicious competition,” he said.

The US should follow the trend of the times, abandon its outdated zero-sum Cold War mentality and view China and its development in an objective and rational way, Zhao said.

The US should adopt a positive policy toward China and work with China through stepping up dialogue, managing differences and focusing on cooperation to promote China-US relations along a healthy and stable track.

(Compiled by Ruan Ziyan)