Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai, in a rare press conference on Monday, said that no one can "contain" China now. The envoy made the remarks while responding to the increasingly close ties between India and the US, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's recent India-centrist policy speech.
The Donald Trump administration has decided to sell high-tech military equipment to India, including state-of-the-art armed drones, and Japan also recently proposed a strategic quadrilateral dialogue with India and Australia. Political analysts in the West have described the arms sale to India as the United States' move to contain China.
The Chinese envoy expressed his displeasure over the formation of an "exclusive club" in the Indo-Pacific region.
"I don't think that the sales of advanced arms would really serve that purpose," Cui said. "By the way I don't think anybody would be able to contain China," the Chinese Ambassador asserted. The top diplomat was addressing the media at the Chinese Embassy ahead of US President Donald Trump's visit to China early next month.
Trump is preparing for his maiden official Asia visit next month, where he is scheduled to embark on a 10-day visit to China. The US President is also set to visit Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and the Philippines during the trip.
China is "open to cooperation among the regional countries" for stability and prosperity, the Chinese envoy said. The ties between China and India "have been developing quite steadily over the years," Cui added.
Although Cui did not mention the recent months-long standoff between China and India in Doklam, he said that he does not think "confrontation" is in the interest of either of the two countries.
"I'm quite confident that both countries have a clear recognition of what will serve their respective interests best," Cui said while responding to a question on India and the move to have a strategic dialogue involving four countries – India, Japan, US and Australia.
"Good relations between China and the US is not at the expense of any other country. The same should be true for relations between US and India and Japan and India," the Chinese ambassador said.
