US must treat China equally before bilateral ties normalize

The United States must treat China equally, discard its habitual bullying of China, and interact with China with a healthy and normal mindset before bilateral relations move forward and hopefully return to normality.

This is a lesson the United States must learn from Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman's recent visit to China, during which in-depth and candid talks were held between her and senior Chinese diplomats including State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng.

While meeting with Sherman, Wang underlined three basic demands as bottom lines that China firmly upholds: the United States must not challenge, slander or even attempt to subvert the path and system of socialism with Chinese characteristics; it must not attempt to obstruct or interrupt China's development process; and it must not infringe upon China's state sovereignty, or even damage China's territorial integrity.

However, it is unrealistic to solve the fundamental differences between the two countries quickly.

The root cause of the stalemate and the difficulties facing China-US relations is that some politicians in the United States see China through colored spectacles or even treat China as an "imagined enemy."

Moreover, given the differences between China and the United States in ideology, culture, and history, and considering the fast-changing global landscape complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is hard for the bilateral relations to improve substantially for now.

In contrast to the United States, China sees China-US relations equally with a positive and open mindset.

China develops itself with no intention to challenge or replace the United States. As Foreign Minister Wang Yi put it, "we take no interest in betting on US winnings or losses. China's development is not based on the premise of US decline."

And China expects the United States to treat China the same way.

Beijing has tried to steer the direction of China-US relations in the right way. It has made great efforts in preventing bilateral relations from further deteriorating or even getting out of control.

Next, it's up to Washington to face up to the propositions made by Beijing and show its sincerity with concrete actions in mending bilateral ties.