BEIJING — The U.S. is pushing back on the idea it wants to suppress China and said it doesn’t want to separate the two economies, according to a State Department spokesperson’s comments.

The spokesperson was responding to a CNBC request for comment on Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang’s remarks Tuesday. Qin claimed U.S. calls for “establishing guardrails” on the relationship meant that China should not react.

Qin also said that the U.S. needed to “hit the brake” to prevent conflict with China.

“We have made it clear we do not seek to contain China or have a new Cold War,” the U.S. State Department spokesperson said.

The spokesperson pointed to Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s comments last year that said the U.S. doesn’t seek to stop China from growing its economy or “advancing the interests of its people.”

“He also said we do not want to sever China’s economy from ours, though China is pursuing asymmetric decoupling,” the spokesperson said.