BEIJING, June 13 (Portal) – A Chinese pro-state social media commentator on Tuesday accused the United States of pranking them and creating an “illusion” they created just days before an expected visit by US Secretary of State Antony want to operate flashing .
Ahead of the high-risk visit, fresh allegations by the US of Chinese espionage and damning Chinese doubts about Washington’s sincerity in repairing troubled ties have been clouded.
While the US State Department has not announced Blinken’s visit, a US official said he will be in China on June 18 for talks. In February, he canceled a visit to Beijing after a suspected Chinese spy balloon flew over the United States.
“Every time they say they want to meet, the United States plays a role and creates the false illusion that they are ready to communicate, while constantly testing and provoking China’s fundamental principles,” Yuyuan said Tantian, a social media user with state broadcaster CCTV, wrote in an article.
US officials, including Blinken himself, said in recent days that China has been spying from Cuba for some time and modernized its intelligence gathering facilities there in 2019.
Beijing and Havana have dismissed the accusation as false.
On Monday, Blinken said China’s efforts in Cuba are part of a global effort to expand its presence abroad, and that U.S. actions to address the issue since President Joe Biden took power in 2021 have produced “results,” but without providing further details indicate what the results were.
Flags of the United States and China can be seen in this illustration image dated August 2, 2022. Portal/Florence Lo/Illustration
The February balloon incident was a “farce,” and a request by the US defense secretary to meet his Chinese counterpart at a conference in Singapore this month, which China refused, was nothing like a “carefully crafted” performance, the agency said Chinese social media commentator wrote.
‘HYSTERIA’
On Monday, the US placed 43 companies – including 31 from China – on an export control list to train Chinese military pilots and engage in other activities that threaten US national security.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said the United States is abusing its power by repeatedly invoking national security, causing “hysteria.”
Adding to pessimism over Blinken’s visit, a man sprayed anti-American graffiti on the wall and a gate of the US consulate in Hong Kong on Tuesday.
Media footage showed the word “Hegemony” in English and the words “Double Standards” in simplified Chinese characters used in mainland China as opposed to a traditional script used in Chinese-ruled Hong Kong.
“As the US has repeatedly emphasized the need to strengthen high-level communications with China, whether Blinken will visit China is a litmus test of US sincerity and political maneuvering,” China’s state tabloid Global Times wrote on Sunday in an editorial.
Reporting by Ryan Woo; Additional reporting by Liz Lee; Adaptation by Lincoln Feast, Robert Birsel
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