Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov over the phone Friday that the United States government has "lost its mind, morals and credibility."
China's foreign ministry issued a statement Saturday that highlighted Wang and Lavrov's conversation in which they said the U.S. is destroying its relationships with allies and foreign governments worldwide.
Wang said the U.S. has reverted back to its "Cold War mentality" and is creating confrontations that did not exist just a few short years ago.
"The U.S. has bluntly pursued its 'America First' policy, pushing egoism, unilateralism and bullying to the limit, and that's not what a great power should be about," Wang told Lavrov, according to remarks reproduced by the Beijing government. "The U.S. has resorted to extreme measures and even created hot spots and confrontations in international relationships, has lost its mind, morals and credibility."
Wang and Lavrov sought to boost coordination between Moscow and Beijing in response to their claims the U.S. has shirked its responsibilities and Trump has attempted to discredit foreign governments. The Russian foreign minister said the U.S. has "torn apart its disguise" and is now openly threatening countries with sanctions.
As the South China Morning Post noted Saturday, Beijing's release of the phone call transcript is a rare move, particularly one detailing such harsh criticism of the world's largest economy.
"The U.S. has retaken the notorious McCarthyism and outdated Cold War mentality and intentionally stirred up ideological opposition," Wang continued. "Which breaches the bottom line and basic norms of international laws and international relationships."
The conversation between the two diplomats comes as the relationship between U.S. and Chinese leaders has deteriorated into verbal sniping and Twitter criticism. The Trump administration has repeatedly criticized Beijing's aggressive moves to assert control over Hong Kong, prompting the president to sign an executive order last week that ended the city's preferential trade treatment. And leaders in both countries have gone tit-for-tat in public spats over the origin of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Newsweek reached out to the U.S. Secretary of State's office as well as Russian and Chinese diplomatic offices in Washington Saturday morning for additional remarks.
The U.S. State Department on Friday released a 2018 internal cable that prompted speculation that COVID-19 allegedly escaped from a Chinese laboratory in Wuhan late last year. Comments between U.S. Embassy officials in China—which were leaked to news outlets earlier this year—expressed concerns about the virology lab.
The Global Times, a media outlet run by the China's community government, reported that Wang told Lavrov of the need to "reject unilateralism and protectionism, to support greater democracy in international relations and to reject the hegemony of power politics."
Newsweek reached out to Chinese and White House officials in Washington Monday morning for additional remarks.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Benjamin Fearnow is a reporter based out of Newsweek's New York City offices. He was previously at CBS and Mediaite ... Read more
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