China's Qin Gang, Once Sidelined By White House, Strikes Combative Tone Against US

China's new foreign minister Qin Gang has warned that "conflict and confrontation" with the U.S. cannot be ruled out if Washington doesn't ease its stance against the country.

The U.S. has issued a number of sanctions against China in recent years, and relations between the two countries have been at their lowest point. This has been further aggravated by the suspected Chinese spy balloon that was shot down off the coast of South Carolina last month.

Qin warned the U.S. Tuesday of "catastrophic consequences" should it continue to treat China the way it does.

"If the United States does not hit the brakes, but continues to speed down the wrong path, no amount of guardrails can prevent derailing, and there will surely be conflict and confrontation," Qin told reporters at a news conference on the sidelines of the National People's Congress in Beijing, CNN reported.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed his diplomatic visit to China after the suspected spy balloon was shot down last month despite the latter's claim that it was a weather research satellite that blew off course.

Blinken said at the time that the balloon's discovery was "detrimental to the substantive discussions that we were prepared to have," as per Voice of America. This was a high-stakes meeting, including asking relevant U.S. personalities to stop putting their support behind the sovereign territory of Taiwan.

Qin commented on U.S.'s response to the balloon incident and accused the country of overreacting, which led to a "diplomatic crisis that could have been avoided." He said the "reaction shows the U.S. perception and views of China are seriously distorted," adding that "it regards China as its primary rival and the biggest geopolitical challenge," according to CNN.

"The U.S. claims it seeks to compete with China but does not seek conflict," Qin said further. "But in reality, the so-called 'competition' by the U.S. is all-round containment and suppression, a zero-sum game of life and death."

Qin was China's ambassador to the U.S. before becoming foreign minister. He arrived in Washington in 2021, and only a handful of U.S. officials reportedly held meetings with him despite requests to meet with more senior officials.

"Containment and suppression will not make America great, and the U.S. will not stop the rejuvenation of China," Qin added.

It was earlier predicted that the Biden administration's reluctance to engage with Qin would lead to future trouble.

"I think he's going to go back to Beijing with a pretty big chip on the shoulder for not having been treated with the dignity and respect he felt he deserved," Ryan Hass, former director for China, Taiwan and Mongolia at the National Security Council, said, as reported by Politico in November 2022.

The White House struck down these claims repeatedly, saying senior officials and Qin met regularly. However, Bonnie Glaser, Asia Program director at the German Marshall Fund said what she heard was contrary to the White House's claims.

"The story from the embassy even as recently as early this year was that Qin Gang wasn't being seen by U.S. officials, and he was therefore spending time at the sub-national level ... going to visit mayors and governors," Glaser told the outlet.

Another former White House official said Washington and those among the administration thought "Qin wasn't super-connected into the policymaking process back in Beijing."

"Qin has expressed frustration to various people with what he saw as the administration's unwillingness to see him as a serious conduit" to Chinese President Xi Jinping, the former official noted further, according to the outlet.

Going back to Qin's first presser as foreign minister, he expressed strong resentment against Washington for its Indo-Pacific strategy, saying its real purpose is to "contain China."

The U.S.-China relationship has been further strained by the latter's refusal to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Qin reportedly said China's relationship with Russia "does not pose a threat to any country in the world, nor will it be interfered or sowed discord in by any third party," adding, "The more unstable the world becomes, the more imperative it is for China and Russia to steadily advance their relations."