BEIJING (AP) β China on Friday accused the United States of βcoercive diplomacyβ following comments by Secretary of State Antony Blinken to his Australian counterpart that the U.S. βwill not leave Australia alone on the field β or maybe I should say βalone on the pitchβ β in the face of economic coercion by China.β
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying accused the U.S. of imposing economic sanctions and strong-arming other countries over trade issues to achieve its βstrategic goals.β
Hua said Chinaβs telecommunications and other high-tech industries are now falling victim to U.S. βeconomic coercion,β an apparent reference to firms including Huawei and ZTE that have faced U.S. restrictions.
βCoercive diplomacy is a specialty of the United States, which has provided the world with classic textbooks and cases of coercive diplomacy through its policies and actions," Hua said at a daily briefing.
βThere are now a growing number of people in the United States who are calling for strengthened dialogue and cooperation with China and urging the two countries to work toward each other to improve relations. They believe that a healthy, stable and sustained U.S.-China relationship is in the interest of the people of both countries," she added.
Like the United States and China, Australia and China are in the midst of several major disputes as Beijing seeks to apply pressure over commerce and influence.
In their Thursday meeting, Blinken told Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne the United States and Australia are bound together by deeply held shared values that no other nation, including China, can uproot.
Both said that presenting a united front toward China is key and called for a more thorough and complete investigation into the origin of the coronavirus pandemic that emerged in China in 2019.
China-Australia relations have plunged to a multi-decade low, with Beijing blocking imports of Australian coal, wheat and other goods over the past year. But it has failed to force Prime Minister Scott Morrisonβs government to offer concessions.
Australia decided in April to cancel two deals signed by the state of Victoria with Chinaβs multibillion-dollar βBelt and Roadβ construction initiative.
Beijing warned then it might respond, which it did by suspending the China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue, accusing Australia of abusing βso-called national security reasons to severely restrict and suppress economic and cultural cooperation projects.β