BEIJING, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- China is strongly dissatisfied with and firmly opposes the U.S. threat to impose an additional 10 percent tariff on Chinese imports under the pretext of fentanyl issue and will take all necessary measures to firmly safeguard its legitimate interests, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Friday.
China has repeatedly stated that there is no winner in the trade and tariff war, spokesperson Lin Jian said at a regular news briefing, adding that the U.S. unilateral tariff hikes severely violate World Trade Organization rules and harm the interests of the two countries and the whole world.
"The U.S. once again uses the fentanyl issue as a pretext to threaten China with additional tariffs on its exports to the U.S.," Lin said when commenting on U.S. President Donald Trump's proposal that he would impose an additional 10 percent tariff on Chinese imports next week.
"The fentanyl issue is the United States' own problem," he said, adding that China had given support to the U.S. response to the fentanyl issue in the spirit of humanity.
At the U.S. request, China announced back in 2019 the decision to officially schedule fentanyl-related substances as a class. "We are the first country in the world to do so," Lin said.
China is one of the world's strictest countries on counternarcotics both in terms of policy and its implementation, and China has conducted counternarcotics cooperation with the U.S. side in a broad-based and in-depth way.
The remarkable progress is there for all to see, and people from various sectors in the United States have expressed their appreciation to China for this on many occasions, Lin said.
"The fentanyl issue is just an excuse the U.S. uses to impose tariffs on, pressure and blackmail China, and they punish us for helping them," the spokesperson said. "This will not solve their concerns. It is only counterproductive and will deal a heavy blow to the dialogue and cooperation with China on counternarcotics."
In response to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio's allegations against China on the fentanyl issue, Lin said what Rubio said "is full of the Cold War mentality and advocates containment, suppression and blame shifting, which seriously undermines China's interests."
"We strongly deplore and firmly oppose that," he said. "Pressuring, coercion and threat are not the right way to deal with China. Instead, mutual respect is the basic prerequisite."
"We urge the U.S. to correct its wrongdoing and return to the right track of addressing each other's concerns through equal-footed consultations," he said. ■
