US Indo-Pacific Strategy 'Doomed to Fail,' China Says
China’s Foreign Ministry this week criticized the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy, saying it “will only undermine regional peace and stability and is doomed to fail.” During a May 24 news conference, a ministry spokesperson said the U.S. “concocted” the strategy, which will soon lead to the start of negotiations with several other countries on a new Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (see 2205230003), and “created political and military confrontation by ganging up with some countries.” China’s Ministry of Commerce said the framework “should be open and inclusive rather than discriminatory and exclusive,” according to an unofficial translation of a May 24 statement.
China’s Foreign Ministry also criticized the U.S.’s recent designation of Guatemala’s attorney general for corruption, saying it has no right to interfere in the country’s government. “The U.S. has been putting together small clubs and excluding dissenting voices under the banner of democracy, human rights and anti-corruption,” the spokesperson said. “It has been willfully abusing unilateral sanctions and trying to [interfere] in and [manipulate] domestic affairs of Latin American countries, which constitute grave infringement on the sovereignty and dignity of regional countries.”
The spokesperson also said China continues to have a positive relationship with Russia despite Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and mounting sanctions pressure from many of the world’s largest economies. “China-Russia relations have withstood the new test of the changing international landscape and keep moving forward in the right direction,” the spokesperson said. “China and Russia will remain committed to promoting a multi-polar world and greater democracy in international relations, upholding true multilateralism and opposing hegemonic behaviors and bloc confrontation in international relations.” The U.S. has said it's closely monitoring whether China is helping Russia evade international sanctions and export controls and has urged Beijing to impose its own sanctions against Moscow (see 2204130055).