China on Tuesday spurned President Trump’s call to probe Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
“China has long pursued the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries,” asserted foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang, the South China Morning Post reported.
“We have no intention of intervening in the domestic affairs of the United States. Our position is consistent and clear.”
Trump said last week that Ukraine and China should investigate the former vice president and his son, and that the US had “tremendous power” and a “lot of options” going into the China-US trade talks.
“[Ukraine] should investigate the Bidens, because how does a company that’s newly formed, and all these companies if you look at — and, by the way, likewise China should start an investigation into the Bidens,” Trump said in remarks that came after the House had begun impeachment proceedings over his request that Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky probe the pair.
The president has slammed impeachment as “a coup.”
The president repeatedly accused the Bidens of being “corrupt,” but there is no known evidence of wrongdoing by either in Ukraine or China, countries where the younger Biden scored lucrative business deals while his father was vice president.
Trade negotiations between the world’s two largest economies were scheduled to resume Thursday or Friday.
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He will lead a delegation with officials from the commerce ministry, central bank, information technology ministry and agricultural ministry for the talks with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
The latest round of talks precedes the US’ imposition of additional tariffs on Chinese products next Tuesday.
The Chinese side will seek to determine if the US will postpone the tariffs again.
“The nature of China-US economic and trade relation is mutually beneficial,” Geng said.
“It is normal that disputes exist. But we have to stick to the basis of mutual respect, equal and mutual benefit in the process of resolving the dispute. I am afraid it is not a correct attitude if someone always wants to maintain an upper hand.”
Meanwhile, Taoran Notes, the social media account linked to the state-run Economic Daily, warned that remarks about China meddling in US politics would complicate the trade talks, the website reported.
“Such acts are nothing but political blackmail,” the commentary said. “They know China’s long-held stance of not interfering in other nations’ affairs, so [some people in the US] unscrupulously manipulated related issues, adding further complications to the negotiations.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
With Post wires
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