China’s Foreign Minister Says Ties With U.S. Risk Going Off the Rails

China’s foreign minister warned that the U.S. strategy toward China risked plunging the countries into a conflict in remarks a day after Chinese leader Xi Jinping unleashed a similar verbal salvo at Washington, signaling a deepening rift between the world’s two largest economies.

In a news conference Tuesday on the sidelines of China’s annual gathering of its National People’s Congress in Beijing, Qin Gang said the Biden administration was insincere in saying it wanted to preserve relations and warned the U.S. against engaging in what he called new McCarthyism.

The blunt remarks by Mr. Qin, who until recently served as Beijing’s ambassador to Washington, followed a similar broadside on Monday from Mr. Xi, who criticized what he termed a U.S. policy of “all-round containment, encirclement and suppression” of China.

Mr. Xi’s comments were a rare instance of China’s top official taking direct aim at the U.S., and came after weeks of tensions between the two countries since the U.S. downing of what it says was a Chinese surveillance balloon that traveled through American airspace.

Strains between Beijing and Washington have also been exacerbated by Mr. Xi’s support for Russian leader Vladimir Putin, who invaded Ukraine last year. Mr. Xi is planning a visit to Moscow for a summit meeting with Mr. Putin in coming months.