"If someone in the U.S. really launched a Cold War against China, China would not lose, and those people would not win." Chinese ambassador Qin Gang warned.
He explained that China is not the Soviet Union, as China's leading Communist Party is not as rigid and closed. "The Communist Party of China knows how to keep up with the times and deliver better lives to its people, and it has support from the 1.4 billion Chinese which can be seen in the recent celebration of the 100th anniversary of its founding. This is the biggest difference." Qin said. He added China has learned the lessons from the collapse of the Soviet Union and knows how to avoid it.
In the meantime, Qin said the U.S. is also different compared to 30 years ago. While the U.S. has little trade and economic connection with the Soviet Union, "China-U.S. trade is reaching $70 billion this year, up by 20%, with China being the 3rd largest trading partner of the U.S. only after Canada and Mexico." Qin stressed that these two giants are too deeply connected to decouple, which is different from U.S.-Russia relations during the Cold War.
When asked by a U.S. journalist why Microsoft was hacked by China, Qin said the Chinese government never sponsors any cyber attack. "Chinese firms are also hacked and many of them come from the U.S. But can we say they are an organized act by the U.S. government?" Qin said people should stop using these issues to propagate Cold War mentality, but instead, solve problems by holding talks and working together.
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