ISTANBUL

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday strongly criticized US tariff policies targeting China, accusing Washington of using scapegoating and pressure tactics, while reiterating Beijing’s commitment to global nuclear disarmament and rejecting US demands for trilateral arms control talks.

“Instead of fixing its own problems, Washington is trying in every way to shirk responsibility, to shift the blame from the sick to the healthy, by imposing tariffs, even to the point of blackmail and ultimatums. The United States is sick itself, but it is forcing others to get treatment,” Wang said in an interview with Russian state news agency RIA.

Wang called recent tariff hikes imposed by the US over fentanyl-related accusations “completely unfounded,” adding: “Fentanyl abuse is the United States' own problem, which the Americans themselves must deal with.”

“China, like no other country in the world, pursues an anti-drug policy in all its severity and completeness,” Wang said. “Nevertheless, guided by the principles of humanism, we helped the United States in every possible way. How did they respond? They responded not with good, but with evil – groundless tightening of tariffs.”

He urged Washington to abandon “crude tariff blackmail” and pursue dialogue on equal terms. “No intimidation or despotism has ever worked on China, and it never will,” he added.

Recalling a call between President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump earlier this year, Wang said both sides should “coexist peacefully” and avoid confrontation.

Nuclear disarmament

Wang also addressed the global nuclear balance, calling for the full elimination of nuclear weapons and rejecting US calls for China to join trilateral arms control talks with Russia.

“In a speech at the UN headquarters in Geneva in January 2017, President Xi Jinping pointed out: ‘Nuclear weapons are the Damocles sword that hangs over humanity. They must be completely prohibited and ultimately eliminated to achieve a nuclear-free world,’” Wang said.

“China has made known to the world its pledge never to be the first to use nuclear weapons, nor to use them against non-nuclear states or in nuclear-weapon-free zones, nor to threaten to use them,” he added.

Wang emphasized that China follows a self-defensive nuclear strategy, keeps its arsenal at the minimum level necessary for national security, and does not seek a nuclear arms race.

Calling the US demand for China to join trilateral disarmament talks “unfair and unrealistic,” Wang noted that China’s nuclear arsenal is “incomparably inferior” to that of the United States.

He urged Washington to reduce its reliance on nuclear weapons and halt actions “that undermine strategic security,” such as creating “nuclear alliances” and deploying intermediate-range missiles near other countries.

Wang also warned against actions that threaten global security. “We call on Washington to make serious efforts to reduce the risks of nuclear war and achieve the goal of denuclearization of the planet,” he said.