China is not the former Soviet Union and will not lose if there is a new cold war, said Beijing's ambassador to the United States Qin Gang in a recent interview.
While speaking with chief editors and senior correspondents of major American media outlets last week, Gang said, "If people really want to launch a Cold War against China, I can say that China won't be the loser."
"Those people cannot win the Cold War. First, China is not the former Soviet Union. The Chinese Communist Party is not like Soviet Union Communist Party. The CPC is old, 100 years old, just celebrating the centenary, eating the big birthday cake," he said.
These remarks were made during a presser on Monday and published by the Chinese embassy on Friday.
Over talks of the possible cold war between the US and China, Gang asked, "Where could a New Cold War come from? Why do people feel that the Cold War is coming back? Because some people in the US have a Cold War mentality and take China as the former Soviet Union. But China is not the Soviet Union."
He noted that the "US is not the US 30 years ago" and Beijing's interests are closely intertwined with Washington.
"The US is the biggest trading partner of China, and China is the third biggest trading partner of the US, only next to Canada and Mexico, your two neighbors. This year's trade volume will certainly exceed 700 billion US dollars, a 20 per cent increase year-on-year," he added.
The ties between the two countries have not been on the best of terms since fault lines emerged in the Trump administration. Since the arrival of Joe Biden, the flashpoints between the two nations have increased over a series of issues including trade, security, and human rights.
Answering a question on how Beijing views groupings like Quad, AUKUS, envoy Gang said, "China is facing an international environment which is very grim and challenging."
"The Asia-Pacific is a region that China and the United States interact closely and frequently. And the peace and stability in the region is one of our primary concerns. Of course, we do not hope to see a hostile surrounding environment," he added.
On the Taiwan issue, Qin urged US policymakers to "cautiously" manage ties with Taiwan, which he said has become a major potential flashpoint.
The Chinese ambassador said that China thinks preventing crises is more important than controlling crises.
"But the crises pop up when the US comes to our side talking about controlling crises. What's the best way to manage crises? The answer is better to prevent them from happening and make fewer negative policies, actions, particularly, no or less provocation on issues like Taiwan."
Taiwan is the major issue that can bring China and United States into a potential conflict, envoy Gang added.
( With inputs from ANI )
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