China's foreign minister accused the U.S. on Thursday of devising tactics to suppress China's rise and criticized the Biden administration for adding more Chinese companies to its sanctions lists.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi attends a press conference on the sidelines of the NPC, in Beijing.

Wang Yi, speaking to media during the annual meeting of China's legislature, said that relations with the U.S. have improved since Presidents Xi Jinping and Joe Biden met in November, but that America has not fulfilled its promises.

“If the U.S. always says one thing and does another, where is its credibility as a major power? If the U.S. gets nervous and anxious when it hears the word ‘China,’ where is its confidence as a major power?” he said. “If the U.S. is obsessed with suppressing China, it will eventually harm itself."

Wang, a 70-year-old veteran diplomat who has earned Xi's trust, returned to the foreign minister's post last summer after his successor, Qin Gang, was abruptly dismissed without explanation after a half year on the job.

Analysts had speculated the ruling Communist Party might use the weeklong meeting of the National People's Congress to name a new foreign minister, but that appeared off the table after an agenda released on the eve of the opening session did not include personnel changes.

Wang accused the United States, without mentioning it by name, of stirring up trouble in Taiwan and the South China Sea. China says that self-governing Taiwan is part of China and should be under its control, and it claims a wide swath of the South China Sea, putting it at odds with the Philippines, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian neighbors.

The Philippines and the U.S. have accused China of aggressive tactics in trying to block Philippines ships from reaching reefs and other outcroppings that both sides claim, most recently in a collision between coast guard vessels of both countries this week.

“For unreasonable provocations, we will take just countermeasures,” Wang said. “We also advise certain countries outside the region not to stir up trouble, choose sides, and not to become disruptors and troublemakers in the South China Sea.”

He said countries that insist on maintaining official ties with Taiwan are interfering in China's domestic affairs. Most countries, including the United States, don't have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but China objects to visits by U.S. lawmakers to the island and U.S. sales of military equipment for its defense.

China will continue to work for peaceful reunification with Taiwan, Wang said, but warned that anyone who supports independence for Taiwan would pay a price. Most Taiwanese prefer to remain separate from China without antagonizing it. They fear Chinese rule could endanger their freedoms and democracy, particularly after China's crackdown on Hong Kong.

“Our bottom line is also very clear,” Wang said. “That is Taiwan will never be allowed to split from the motherland.”

US has a wrong perception of China, says foreign minister

The U.S. continues to hold the wrong perception of China and has yet to fulfill its promises despite some progress since presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping met last November, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Thursday.

Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of an annual parliament meeting in Beijing, Wang said exchanges between both countries can only continue if both sides respect and recognize their differences.

"It has to be pointed out that the U.S. side's erroneous perception of China continues, and the promises it has made have not really been fulfilled," Wang said at the National People's Congress.

"The methods of suppressing China are constantly being renewed, and the list of unilateral sanctions is constantly being extended," he said.

The "crimes" the U.S. wanted to add to it "have reached an unbelievable level," Wang said.

Biden had made it clear the U.S. would not seek a new Cold War nor seek to change the Chinese system or back Taiwan's independence, Wang said.

In an annual and wide-ranging discussion, Wang struck a relatively measured tone as he also covered relations with Russia and the Ukraine conflict, China's stuttering economy and its ambitions in artificial intelligence.

Tensions between the two superpowers have slightly eased since Biden and Xi staged their landmark summit in San Francisco last November, but they remain in an uneasy detente ahead of the U.S. election this year which could see Republican China hawk Donald Trump return to the White House.

Washington has repeatedly stated its desire to put a floor under the relationship after it spiralled to its worst in decades last year over issues including Taiwan, tech competition, trade and an alleged Chinese spy balloon shot down by the U.S. off its east coast.

China alleges the U.S. is trying to contain and suppress its high-tech development and industrial policy, while both militaries eye each other closely amid increased deployments across East Asia.

"So we urge the U.S. to understand the historical development trend, objectively and rationally look at China's development (and) actively and pragmatically carry out interactions with China."

Beijing also faces ongoing geopolitical confrontations on multiple fronts, including with Europe on trade and the Ukraine war, Japan on a variety of issues, and the Philippines over the South China Sea, a regional hotbed of competing territorial claims.

Wang also said China is willing to work with Russia to foster new drivers of cooperation and consolidate friendship.

China and Russia had declared a "no limits" partnership in February 2022 when Putin visited Beijing just days before he sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine, triggering the deadliest land war in Europe since World War Two.

China Slams US for ‘Monopolizing’ Tech as Biden Urges More Curbs

The Chinese foreign minister blasted US trade policies and accused it of suppressing China’s development, as the Biden administration is said to be pressing allies to further tighten restrictions on China’s access to semiconductor technology.

“It only wants itself to prosper, but denies other countries legitimate development, where is international fairness? If it persistently monopolizes the high end of the value chain, and keeps China at the low end, where is fairness and competition?” Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Thursday. He was responding to a question about US-China relations at a news briefing on the sidelines of an annual meeting of the National People’s Congress, the country’s parliament.

Wang’s remarks highlight tensions between the world’s two biggest economies even as Beijing and Washington seek to stable ties.

The US government is pressing the Netherlands, Germany, South Korea and Japan to further tighten restrictions on China’s access to semiconductor technology, a controversial effort that’s drawing resistance in some countries, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News.

A member of the 24-seat Politburo, Wang retook the role after Qin Gang was ousted in July without explanation. In his press conference last year, Qin warned that soaring US-China tensions risked blowing past any guardrails in the relationship. That briefing came just weeks after an alleged Chinese spy balloon derailed what was then a nascent rapprochement.

Chinese FM blasts US 'suppression', defends Russia ties

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi lashed out against the United States and praised his country's partnership with Russia on Thursday, in a wide-ranging press conference where he called the war in Gaza a "disgrace for civilisation".

Wang hit out at what he called efforts by Washington "to suppress China", telling reporters that "the desire to heap blame under any pretext has reached an unbelievable level".

Beijing's top diplomat met the press Thursday on the sidelines of China's largest annual political gathering, which opened in the capital earlier this week.

The "Two Sessions" -- parallel meetings of China's rubber-stamp parliament and political consultative body -- offer a rare glimpse into the strategy of President Xi Jinping's Communist Party-led government for the year ahead.

This year's gathering is being closely watched for signals as to Chinese leaders' confidence in current geopolitical conditions, as tensions persist across the Taiwan Strait and Russia's war in Ukraine enters its third year.

China's expanding political reach has sparked friction on multiple fronts, with Wang's press conference coming after Southeast Asian and Australian leaders warned this week against Chinese actions that "endanger peace" in the South China Sea.

Beijing has increasingly flexed its muscles in the South China Sea, which it claims in almost its entirety despite an international arbitration ruling that declared its stance baseless.

Chinese coast guard boats were accused on Tuesday of badgering a flotilla of Philippine ships on a resupply mission, with Beijing in turn saying Manila was acting as Washington's pawn.

"We resolutely oppose all acts of hegemony and bullying, and will strongly uphold national sovereignty and security as well as development interests," Wang said Thursday.

"The methods used to suppress China are constantly being renewed, and the list of unilateral sanctions is constantly being extended," he said at a press conference in Beijing, referring to US actions.

And the veteran diplomat warned that people seeking independence for self-ruled Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory, would be "liquidated by history".

- Maritime tensions -

Wang insisted on Thursday that China's actions in the South China Sea were reasonable, saying Beijing had "always maintained a high degree of restraint".

Manila has accused China of harassing Philippine vessels in the contested waters, including blasting a resupply boat with a water cannon on Tuesday.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos said he viewed the Chinese actions with "great alarm", while a Filipino military commander described the confrontations as "the worst" in two years.

Wang told journalists that Beijing "advocates the spirit of essential good-neighbourliness... but we will not allow goodwill to be abused".

"We will legitimately defend our rights in accordance with the law," he said, urging "certain countries outside the region not to stir up trouble or pick sides, and not to become disruptors or troublemakers in the South China Sea".

"In the face of complex turmoil in the international environment, China will persist in being a force for peace, a force for stability, and a force for progress in the world," Wang told reporters.

- 'New paradigm' -

Wang reiterated China's support for Palestinians when asked about the ongoing conflict in Gaza, saying Beijing supports full United Nations membership for a Palestinian state.

"The catastrophe in Gaza once again reminded the world that the fact that the Palestinian territories have been occupied for a long time can no longer be ignored," Wang said.

"The long-cherished wish of the Palestinian people to establish an independent country can no longer be evaded, and the historical injustice suffered by the Palestinian people cannot continue for generations without being corrected," he added.

He called the conflict "a tragedy for humankind and a disgrace for civilisation".

Beijing has been calling for an immediate ceasefire since the start of the current Israel-Hamas war in October last year.

Wang on Thursday also defended Beijing's close relationship with Moscow, saying that "China and Russia have set a new paradigm for major power relations that is completely different from the old Cold War era."

The foreign minister said that bilateral ties rested on "the basis of non-alignment, non-confrontation and non-targeting of third parties".

Western powers have criticised Beijing for refusing to condemn Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

China says it is a neutral party in the Ukraine war, but its strategic partnership with Russia has grown closer since the start of the war.

Wang also told reporters on Thursday that the European Union's portrayal of China as a rival was "not factual or feasible", amid efforts by the bloc to fend off competition from China in areas including technology, energy and electric vehicles.