China’s top diplomat Wang Yi at a trilateral forum in China’s Qingdao city on Monday said that Americans cannot distinguish between people from China, Japan and Korea.
What did Chinese diplomat Wang Yi say?
Talking about cooperation between the three Asian nations, Yi said that people need to know where their roots are. He said that no matter how people from the Asian nations dye their hair or how sharp they make their nose, they will never turn into a “Westerner”. “Americans take all visitors from China, South Korea and Japan as Asians. They cannot tell the differences and it’s the same in Europe,” he said.
Wang Yi stressed on a cooperation between Japan, China and Korea, saying if the three nations joined hands, it would not only suit their interests but also the wishes of their people. “Together we can prosper, revitalise East Asia and enrich the world,” he added.
Yi also claimed that “some major countries” which are not from the region exaggerate the ideological differences and “weave various exclusive small circles”. These major nations try to “replace cooperation with confrontation and unity with division”, he further said.
The statement by the diplomat has faced a lot of criticism. When asked about Yi’s comments at a briefing on Wednesday, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said, “ We cannot agree with it at all.”
Reactions to Yi’s comments
Wang Yi’s statement drew criticism, especially from the scholars.
Asia Director of the George Marshall fund of the US, Bonnie Glaser, wrote on Twitter that Yi’s message “will not land well” with Japan and South Korea. “Does Wang Yi really think national interests are less important than appearance?” she added.
The Director of the Asian Studies Centre at US think tank The Heritage Foundation Jeff M. Smith said that Japanese and Koreans become Americans everyday. “They’re part of the fabric of America. What they can’t become is Chinese. Tone deaf. Again,” he further wrote.