Beijing fired back at Vice President Mike Pence on Friday for his “arrogance and hypocrisy” after he accused China of curtailing human rights and voiced support for Hong Kong pro-democracy demonstrators.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying took aim at Washington for losing “all trace of morality and trustworthiness” and urged the US to “cease actions that harm the relations and mutual trust between the two countries.”
She accused the vice president of “attempting to distract the American public by slandering other countries” and decried Washington’s “stubborn withdrawal from international treaties and agreements.”
Pence, who is “easily arrogant” about other countries, turns a blind eye to the problems in his own country and tries to shift the focus of the American public onto other nations, Hua said.
“A handful of politicians with Pence at their head have confused black with white on these issues, making irresponsible remarks and creating rumors to slander others,” she said.
China will never allow anyone to interfere in its internal affairs over Hong Kong, Taiwan or Xinjiang, Hua added.
“The US has already abandoned and cast aside its morality and credibility,” she said. “We hope these Americans can look at themselves in the mirror to fix their own problems and get their own house in order.”
Her lashing follows Pence’s comments Thursday in which he accused the NBA of kowtowing to Beijing and slammed Nike for removing Houston Rockets merchandise from stores in China.
“Some of the NBA’s biggest players and owners, who routinely exercise their freedom to criticize this country, lose their voices when it comes to the freedom and rights of other peoples,” Pence said in a speech in Washington on the US-China relationship.
“In siding with the Chinese Communist Party and silencing free speech, the NBA is acting like a wholly owned subsidiary of the authoritarian regime” for failing to stand up to the government’s criticism of Rockets general manager Daryl Morey.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said last week that the league had suffered “substantial” losses in China over Morey’s since-deleted Oct. 4 tweet that read: “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.”
Pence’s speech at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars was billed as follow-up to an address he gave last year in which he accused China of improperly seeking to influence congressional elections to defeat President Trump.
On Thursday, he said the US ultimately wants a “constructive” relationship with China amid ongoing negotiations over a deal between the trade-war rivals.
Despite the Foreign Ministry’s harsh tone, influential Chinese state-backed newspaper the Global Times said in an editorial that while Pence reiterated many of his prior criticisms, there was still “room for optimism.”
“He emphasized the US does not want to ‘decouple’ and repeated how US President Donald Trump is willing to start a new future with China,” it said.
“He also underlined the friendship between Chinese President Xi and his US counterpart Donald Trump.”
With Post wires
