CHINA’S foreign minister accused the United States today of devising tactics to suppress China’s rise and slammed the Biden administration for adding more Chinese companies to its sanctions lists.

Wang Yi, speaking to the media during the annual meeting of China’s National People’s Congress, said China’s relations with the US have improved since Presidents Xi Jinping and Joe Biden met in November, but Washington has not fulfilled its promises.

Mr Wang said: “If the US always says one thing and does another, where is its credibility as a major power? If the US gets nervous and anxious when it hears the word ‘China,’ where is its confidence as a major power?”

He said: “If the US is obsessed with suppressing China, it will eventually harm itself.”

The foreign minister warned against the US stirring up trouble in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea.

He said: “We advise certain countries outside the region not to stir up trouble, choose sides, and not to become disruptors and troublemakers in the South China Sea.”

Mr Wang said China will continue to work for peaceful reunification with Taiwan, and said: “Our bottom line is also very clear. That is, Taiwan will never be allowed to split from the motherland.”

On Palestine the foreign minister said it was time for a major international conference that would be tasked with drawing up a roadmap and timetable for a two-state solution between the Palestinians and Israel. 

He said that China also supported “Palestine becoming a full member of the United Nations and calls on individual members of the security council not to set obstacles to this any more.”

Mr Wang praised China’s growing ties with Russia, noting that trade between the two reached $240 billion (£188bn) last year, beating a target to hit $200bn (£156.4bn) by the end of 2024.

The US and the European Union accuse China of giving Russia an economic lifeline at a time when they are trying to punish its government with sanctions over its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Two weeks ago both the US and the EU expanded sanctions on companies and individuals from China and several other countries for allegedly aiding Russia’s war effort.

But Mr Wang said: “Russian natural gas has entered thousands of households in China, and Chinese cars are driving in the streets of Russia, which fully demonstrates the strong resilience and broad prospects of mutually beneficial co-operation.”