The United States should change its “distorted” attitude towards China or “conflict and confrontation” will follow, China’s foreign minister said on Tuesday. The U.S. had been engaging in suppression and containment of China rather than engaging in fair, rule-based competition, Foreign Minister Qin Gang told a news conference on the sidelines of an annual parliament meeting in Beijing. “The United States’ perception and views of China are seriously distorted,” Qin said. “It regards China as its primary rival and the most consequential geopolitical challenge. This is like the first button in the shirt being put wrong.” (https://neuters.de/world/china/china-says-if-us-does-not-change-path-towards-it-there-will-surely-be-conflict-2023-03-07/) The U.S. says it is establishing guardrails for relations and is not seeking conflict but Qin said what that meant in practice was that China was not supposed to respond with words or action when slandered or attacked. “That is just impossible,” Qin told his first news conference since becoming foreign minister in December. Relations between the two superpowers have been tense for years over a number of issues including Taiwan, trade and more recently the war in Ukraine but they worsened last month after the United States shot down a balloon off the U.S. east coast that it says was a Chinese spying craft.