China Rejects U.S., U.K. Spy Charges

"China's government dismissed a joint U.S.-U.K. warning to businesses that Beijing seeks to steal their corporate secrets, alleging instead that Washington represents the biggest threat to world peace.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Thursday that the U.S.-U.K. statements have no factual basis and expose an "entrenched Cold War zero-sum mentality and ideological prejudice."

He called the U.S. the most warlike nation in history and "the biggest threat to world peace and development," while saying the U.K. spy services are trying to "project their own disgraceful acts onto China through these false, sensational reports" to stoke antagonism and confrontation.

On Wednesday in London, Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray made a rare joint appearance with his British counterpart, MI5 Director-General Ken McCallum, to warn business leaders Chinese authorities are "set on using every tool at their disposal" to steal technology.

The dueling statements come ahead of a planned meeting this week in Bali, Indonesia, between U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Chinese counterpart, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, which political analysts say is in part designed to arrange a call between President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The two leaders most recently spoke in late March, shortly after sanctions on Russia, a source of sharp disagreement between Washington and Beijing.

The conversation between Messrs. Blinken and Wang is likely to touch on Taiwan, the democratically run island China claims that is also perhaps the biggest potential flashpoint between the nations. The Biden administration has said it aims to erect so-called guardrails in the U.S. relationship with Beijing to prevent the chance for a clash between the adversaries.

Mr. Zhao told reporters on Thursday that "the guardrails already exist," in the form of past Sino-U.S. agreements relating to Taiwan. "The two countries must make the relationship work and not mess it up."

The Chinese comments Thursday illustrate an increasingly familiar pattern in which U.S. allegations about Chinese behavior spark an angry response from Beijing that includes counter-allegations, sometimes spelled out in lengthy reports that argue the U.S. in particular is a global threat.

The Blinken-Wang meeting follows a China policy speech the secretary of state delivered in May in which he described Beijing as "the most serious long-term challenge to the international order."” [1]

1.  World News: China Rejects U.S., U.K. Spy Charges
Areddy, James T. 
Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 08 July 2022: A.16.