China's top diplomat warns against 'knee-jerk' calls for decoupling

MUNICH, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned on Saturday against “knee-jerk” calls for the United States to distance itself from China and said that despite some positive recent signs from the White House, some U.S. voices were undermining the relationship.

Calling for a “positive and pragmatic” policy from Washington, he told the Munich Security Conference the best outcome for both would be cooperation.

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Wang Yi met U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday in what a U.S. official described as a “positive and constructive” meeting and discussed a planned visit to Beijing in April by U.S. President Donald Trump.

After a year of turbulence over trade and tariff policy, the United States and China have been looking to smooth relations and Wang Yi said Beijing had been encouraged by recent remarks from the White House showing “respect for President Xi Jinping and the Chinese people”.

The United States and European countries have been increasingly concerned about their growing reliance on China for raw materials and vital parts of their manufacturing supply chains and there have been widespread calls to reduce their dependence.

Wang Yi said some in the United States were “doing everything to attack and smear China” and there were two possible prospects for bilateral relations.

The United States could understand China reasonably and objectively and have a positive and pragmatic policy toward China, he said.

“The other prospect is seeking decoupling from China and severing supply chains and to oppose China on everything in a purely emotional, knee-jerk way,” he said. He warned that some were “trying to split Taiwan from China and stepping on China’s red lines, which would very much likely push China and the United States to a conflict.”

“China, on our part, wants to see the first prospect, and I believe you share the same way, but China is well prepared to address all kinds of risks,” he said.

Reporting by James Mackenzie; editing by Sarah Marsh and Tomasz Janowski

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