Government denounces trade 'blackmail' but insists not out to usurp US

Days after Trump slapped $200 billion in tariffs and vowed to press on until China buckles, Foreign Minister Wang Yi told the UN General Assembly that Beijing would resist.

"China will not be blackmailed or yield to pressure," Wang told the UN General Assembly in a speech that did not mention the United States but appeared to be a pushback against Trump's repudiation from the same podium on Tuesday of globalism.

"China will keep to its commitments and remain a champion of multilaterlism," he said.

"We must pursue win-win cooperation.... We need to replace confrontation with cooperation and coercion with consultation. We must stick together as a big family as opposed to forming closed circles."

Trump forged initial bonhomie with Chinese President Xi Jinping after the real estate tycoon's unexpected election victory but relations have plummeted, largely over trade.

With characteristic bluntness, Trump this week said he may no longer consider Xi a friend and accused China of interfering in midterm US elections to punish him for his tough trade stance.

Wang, addressing opinion leaders at the Council on Foreign Relations thinktank shortly before addressing the General Assembly, played down the spurt in tensions as natural between two major countries.

Tensions 'no cause for panic'

"Various frictions may ensue and this is not surprising, and it is also no cause for panic," Wang said.

"Some American friends have proceeded from the Western theory of realism," he said, believing that "in the past several hundred years, strong countries are bound to seek hegemony, and their conclusion is that China is about to seek hegemony and even challenge or displace US leadership."

"I want to tell you very clearly that this is a serious strategic misjudgment," Wang said. "It is a misguided anticipation that will be extremely detrimental to US interests and the future of the United States.

"Regrettably, this self-imagined suspicion is spreading and it has also been amplified," he said, warning that it could "even lead to new suspicions and make it even more difficult to address specific issues."

Wang was likely referring to Harvard scholar Graham Ellison's book "Thucydides's Trap," in which he cites the lesson of ancient Athens and Sparta to predict the likelihood of conflict between China and the United States.

The tome has become so widely read in policy circles that it was even cited by the UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, in his opening address to the General Assembly.

The Trump administration's first National Security Strategy, released in December, warned starkly of rising challenges from China -- and the report was widely embraced across the US political spectrum.

While China frequently offers reassurances on its intentions, Western scholars frequently point to the maxim of Deng Xiaoping, the father of the modern, business-friendly China, who advised Beijing's leaders to keep a low profile in global affairs until the country has achieved critical strength.

Defends treatment of Uighurs

Wang also flatly denied a key charge behind Trump's hard line on trade -- that China is stealing US technology to boost its own companies.

"This is simply not true. We hope that such untrue allegations will stop," he told the think tank.

US officials say China seizes the technology indirectly by requiring foreign companies to ally with local firms to enter the world's most populous market, with the partners then seizing the know-how for themselves.

And Wang stood firm on China's claims in the South China Sea, an area of high tensions with several neighbors, but said Beijing wanted "peaceful means in seeking solutions" and that it also would not "interfere" in the longstanding US alliance with Japan.

The Trump administration, while muted in statements on human rights when it comes to allies, has denounced in strong terms China's treatment of its mostly Uighur minority.

A recent UN report said that China has swept into detention up to one million people in the western region of Xinjiang, some for offenses as minor as sharing Islamic holiday greetings on social media.

Wang defended China's security clampdown and insisted that the policy enjoyed support, despite wide criticism from human rights groups and exiled Uighur activists.

"In the past few years we have seen no more terrorist attacks in Xinjiang," he said.

"There are 20 million people living in Xinjiang and they support the measures taken by the government because they feel safe and can sleep well at night unafraid of terrorism."