US ‘seeks to trigger new Cold War with China’ because of presidential election – Beijing’s envoy

China’s ambassador to London said on Thursday that the United States was trying to trigger a new Cold War with Beijing because it was searching for a scapegoat ahead of the US presidential election in November.

“It is not China [that has] become assertive. It’s the other side of the Pacific Ocean who want to start new Cold War on China, so we have to make response to that,” Ambassador Liu Xiaoming told reporters. “We have no interest in any Cold War, we have no interest in any war.”

“We have all seen what is happening in the US, they tried to scapegoat China, they want to blame China for their problems,” Reuters quoted the diplomat as saying. “We all know this is an election year.” Liu added that Washington wants “to do anything including treating China as an enemy.”

“We keep telling America, China is not your enemy, China is your friend, your partner,” the ambassador said.