US trying to create Asian NATO with blocs to 'suppress' China: FM Wang Yi

China on Monday launched a broadside against the US, focusing on its Quad and AUKUS alliances, saying Washington is seeking to create an Asian NATO to suppress Beijing's rise.

"The US professes a desire to advance regional cooperation, but in reality, it is stoking geopolitical rivalry, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in his annual press conference on the sidelines of the annual Parliament session highlighting Beijing's concerns over fast-evolving Washington's Indo-Pacific strategy challenging China's influence in the strategically vital region.

The US talks a lot about returning to multilateralism, but in reality, it is forming exclusive clubs. It claims to uphold international rules, but in reality, it is setting and imposing rules that suit itself and its acolytes," he said.

Wang said the US Indo-Pacific strategy is becoming a byword for "bloc politics'".

Wang referred to the four nation Quad grouping of the US, India, Australia and Japan. He also criticised the formation of the AUKUS military alliance between the US, the UK and Australia, amidst China's aggressive actions in the Indo-Pacific region.

From strengthening the Five Eyes and peddling the Quad to putting together the AUKUS security partnership and tightening bilateral military alliances, he said.

The US is staging a 5 (Five eyes) 4 (Quad) 3 (AUKUS) 2 (bilateral military alliances) posture' in the Asia Pacific. It is by no means a blessing but a sinister move, he said.

"The real goal for the Indo-Pacific strategy is to establish an Indo-Pacific version of NATO These perverse actions run counter to common aspirations of the region and are doomed to fail," he said.

The United States is still going to great lengths to engage in intense, zero-sum competition with China, Wang said, adding that it keeps "provoking China on issues concerning China's core interests, and is taking a string of actions to piece together small blocs to suppress China."

These actions not only harm the overall bilateral relations, but also undermine international peace and stability, he said. "This is not how a responsible power should act, or how a credible country does things."

As an independent sovereign country, China has every right to do what is necessary to firmly defend its legitimate interests, Wang said.

Wang said the purposes of the US are to maintain the America-led system of hegemony, undermine the ASEAN-centred regional cooperation architecture and compromise the overall and long-term interests of countries in the region.

The United States still spares no effort to carry out the intense competition with China, constantly attacking and provoking trouble on issues regarding China's core interests, Wang said, adding that the US should return to the right track of rationality and pragmatism," he said.

He also accused the US of disrupting China-European Union relations which nosedived over Beijing's assertive efforts to take punitive action against EU member Lithuania for permitting Taiwan trade office besides Brussels criticism of its alleged human rights violations in Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong and as well as assertive actions over Taiwan.

Some forces are unwilling to see the stable development of China-European Union relations so they fabricate a so-called China threat, play up competition with China and even provoke sanctions and confrontation, Wang said.

"I hope both China and the EU could be highly alert to this," he said

China hopes Europe could establish a more independent and objective understanding of China and practice a pragmatic China policy, he said.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)