The rag is burning between China and the West. From the treatment of Uyghur Muslims to the imbalance of the trade balance, from Taiwan to dominance in high technologies or accusations of espionage, the topics of friction have multiplied in recent years. And have resulted in Western and especially American sanctions targeting China, to which Beijing has responded. Also, Chinese President Xi Jinping condemned the "containment" and "repression" of his country by Westerners, including the United States, during a parliamentary session in Beijing.
"China's external development environment has undergone rapid changes. The uncertain and unpredictable factors have greatly increased,” Xi Jinping said according to an account by China News News Agency released Monday evening. "Western countries, led by the United States, have implemented a policy of containment, encirclement and repression against China, which has brought unprecedented challenges to our country's development," he said. he added.
Xi Jinping also said that the past five years have been marked by a new set of obstacles, which threaten to slow down China's economic rise.
The 69-year-old leader, who is about to get an unprecedented third presidential term in a few days, spoke to members of an advisory committee during the annual parliamentary session.
Sino-US relations hit a particularly tense period last month, after a Chinese balloon was shot down by the US military on suspicion of spying on US military installations. The case forced US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to postpone a visit to China that would have helped to defuse sensitive issues such as the Chinese position on the war in Ukraine, competition in technology and the question of Taiwan.
China and the United States are in a fierce battle over semiconductor manufacturing as the Americans have lost their dominant position to the Asian giant.
In the name of a supposed threat to its national security, the United States has multiplied in recent months the sanctions against Chinese chipmakers, now hindered from sourcing American technologies.
The visits of Western parliamentarians, particularly Americans, to Taiwan, an island whose sovereignty Beijing claims and intends to attach to mainland China, have also contributed to straining relations.
