BEIJING - The Chinese government on Friday (May 27) accused America’s top diplomat of spreading fake news by calling China “the most serious long-term challenge to the international order”, and cast doubts on the United States’ sincerity in wanting to avoid conflict.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin also urged the US to let go of its desire to contain China, and stop words and actions that have so far undermined the relationship between both countries, which is at an all-time low.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had, in his 45-minute speech on the Biden administration’s China policy on Thursday, said China has undermined the global order that has allowed it to flourish and become the world’s second-largest economy.

He added that the Biden administration will “shape the strategic environment around Beijing to advance our vision for an open and inclusive international system”.

A new “China House” team of officials will be set up in the US State Department to coordinate and implement US policy on China, he added.

Mr Blinken had also noted that the Communist Party of China (CPC) “has become more repressive at home and more aggressive abroad”. He said that among various examples of bullying, Beijing has been “trying to cut off Taiwan’s relations with countries around the world and blocking it from participating in international organisations”.

Mr Wang said on Friday that calling China “the most serious long-term challenge to the international order” is a classic example of the US’ smear campaign against its biggest rival.

China has been promoting and adhering to the United Nations charter “to defend international order”, while the US has been working with “a few countries” to come up with systems that ensure American hegemony, he added at a regular press briefing.

One example is the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework that US President Joe Biden unveiled in Tokyo on Monday that leaves out China.

The “small groups” that the US has been forming is contrary to Mr Blinken’s claim that the US does not aim to contain China’s growth, Mr Wang said.

“We will wait and see if the US is indeed willing to exist harmoniously with China,” he added, referring to Mr Blinken’s commitment that the US is not looking for conflict or seeking to block China from its role as a major power.

The US has also continuously interfered in China’s internal affairs, such as issues involving Taiwan, Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Tibet, Mr Wang said.

“These are areas that China has no room for compromise or concessions,” he added, urging the US to “abide by the basic norms of international relations and to stop spreading fake news” about these territories as well.

Mr Blinken said in his latest speech that the US stands with countries “against the genocide and crimes against humanity happening in the Xinjiang region”, and on Tibet where Beijing has waged “a brutal campaign against Tibetans and their culture, language and religious traditions”.

The CPC has also imposed “harsh anti-democratic measures under the guise of national security” in Hong Kong, which goes against handover commitments, enshrined in a treaty deposited at the United Nations, Mr Blinken said.

In an editorial on Friday, Chinese state media Global Times called Mr Blinken’s speech a “summary of old cliches” as the US continues with its campaign to “stigmatise Beijing despite a seemingly softer rhetoric”.

It also posited that Mr Biden has a crisis of approval in the US, and has resorted to focus on China “to promote internal unity and save (his) approval ratings”, which previous US presidents have done as well.

“The strategic mutual trust between China and the US is fragile... If China-US ties continue to worsen, the tensions may get out of control and end up in conflict,” the editorial said.

Assistant Professor Dylan Loh, who studies Chinese foreign policy at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, said: “The relationship between Washington and Beijing is so poor that it would take quite something else to further deteriorate it. So, Mr Blinken’s comments that America has no desire to prevent China from playing the role of a major player and also that it doesn’t want a new ‘Cold War’, I think, are to be welcomed.”

He added that the new China House may help the US coordinate and ensure that the country’s messages on China are consistent, but “we will need to wait and observe further before assessing its eventual, actual effects”.