State Department spokesman Ned Price said Tuesday that the Biden administration’s China strategy is not about “constraining” or “holding back” the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Price made the comments in response to a question about remarks made by Chinese President Xi Jinping and Foreign Minister Qin Gang this week, in which both men accused the United States of trying to suppress China. Price said the Biden administration is interested in trying to beat China, not suppress it.
“It is not about closing in any country in the world. This is not about containing China, this is not about suppressing China, this is not about holding China back,” Price said at Tuesday’s press conference. “This is about maintaining the rules-based order — the rules-based order that countries like China have signed up to.”
“It’s not about holding back another country. We want to have that constructive competition, that is fair, that allows our two countries to coexist responsibly, as we are sure we can,” he continued. “And that has those controls to make sure the competition doesn’t get into that conflict.”
Xi made a rare direct rebuke of Washington in his speech to China’s National People’s Conference, making additional remarks not included in the event’s English transcript, NPR reported.
“Western countries led by the US have carried out extensive containment, encirclement and repression against us, posing an unprecedented threat to our country’s development,” he reportedly said, NPR reported.
The US and China are heading for “conflict and confrontation” unless the US changes course, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang warned at a news conference.https://t.co/arY7V7HfgS
— Axios (@axios) March 7, 2023
Qin, who was most recently China’s ambassador to the United States before being appointed foreign minister a few weeks ago, further elaborated, saying: “If the United States does not hit the brakes, it will continue on the wrong path. can prevent derailments, and there will certainly be conflicts and confrontations,” the outlet reported. (RELATED: DOOCY TO KARINE DIRECTLY: ‘Why Is President Biden Afraid Of China?’)
Tensions between the CCP and the Biden administration have worsened in recent months due to several incidents, most notably the detection of a Chinese spy balloon over US airspace earlier this year and the subsequent cancellation of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s planned visit to Beijing as a result.