China urges US to lift trade restrictions, stop interference

China urges US to lift trade restrictions, stop interference

BEIJING (AP) “” China's top diplomat called Monday for new US President Joe Biden's administration to lift restrictions on trade and people-to-people contacts while ceasing what Beijing considers unwarranted interference in the areas of Taiwan, Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi's comments at a Foreign Ministry forum on US-China relations come as Beijing presses the new administration in Washington to drop many of the confrontational measures adopted by former President Donald Trump.

Trump hiked tariffs on Chinese imports in 2017 and imposed bans and other restrictions on Chinese tech companies and academic exchanges as he sought to address concerns about an imbalance in trade and accusations of Chinese theft of American technology.

Trump also upgraded military and diplomatic ties with Taiwan, the self-governing island democracy claimed by China as its own territory, while sanctioning Chinese officials blamed for abuses against Muslim minorities in Xinjiang and a crackdown on freedoms in Hong Kong.

"We know that the new US administration is reviewing and assessing its foreign policy,“ Wang told diplomats, scholars and journalists at the Lanting Forum. "We hope that the US policy makers will keep pace with the times, see clearly the trend of the world, abandon biases, give up unwarranted