The photo posted on the website of the Chinese Embassy in the U.S. shows Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai speaking in an interview with CNN on March 25, 2021. (Xinhua)
China very much stands for open and fair competition, says Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai.
WASHINGTON, March 27 -- Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai called for international cooperation based on equality, mutual benefit and mutual respect in an interview with CNN on Thursday, and refuted fabricated reports on Xinjiang.
"We believe what today's world wants and what tomorrow's world would want are joint efforts by all countries to build a community of nations for a shared future," Cui said in a live interview with CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour.
Any attempt to divide the world into different camps or build confrontational military blocs are not solutions to global challenges, he noted.
The high-level meeting between top Chinese and U.S. diplomats in Anchorage, Alaska last week was a timely one, and it helped both sides have a better understanding of the other, Cui said.
"I hope this will be the beginning of a long process of dialogue, communication and hopefully coordination between the two sides," he added.
"Our goal is to meet the growing aspiration of the Chinese people for a better life. Our goal is not to compete with or replace any other country," the ambassador said.
The ambassador said that China is committed to multilateral cooperation, adding that such cooperation would have to be based on equality, mutual benefit and mutual respect.
"How can people cooperate with each other if they don't treat each other as equals? ... This is the problem of Western countries," he said. "They still have to learn how to treat other countries, other races, other civilizations as equals."
China very much stands for open and fair competition, said Cui.
"But the problem is," he said, "how can we have fair competition when Chinese companies are discriminated against? When Chinese senior business CEOs are detained without any reason? When there's such a clear attempt to politicize everything? When (there is) such an attempt of nationalism and protectionism against international rules?"
"So in order to have open and fair competition, I think these past mistakes will have to be corrected first. Otherwise, there's no basis for us to engage in such a competition," he said.
