Xi Jinping condemns Western 'containment' and 'repression' targeting China
President Xi Jinping
Chinese President Xi Jinping condemned during a parliamentary session in Beijing the “containment” and “repression” of his country by Westerners and especially the United States, according to state media.
The topics of friction have multiplied in recent years, from the treatment of Uyghur Muslims to the imbalance of the trade balance, passing by Taiwan, the domination in advanced technologies or the accusations of espionage.
They resulted in Western and particularly American sanctions targeting China, to which Beijing responded.
China's external development environment has undergone rapid changes. Uncertain and unpredictable factors have increased significantly, Xi Jinping said according to an account by China News News Agency released late Monday.
Western countries, led by the United States, have implemented a policy of containment, encirclement and repression against China, which has posed unprecedented challenges to the development of our country, he added.
The 69-year-old leader, who is set to seek an unprecedented third presidential term in days, was speaking to members of an advisory committee during the annual parliamentary session.
Xi Jinping said the past five years have been marked by a new set of obstacles, which threaten to slow down China's economic rise.
China-US relations fell into a particularly tense period last month, after a Chinese airship was shot down by the US military on suspicion of x27;spying on US military installations.
The case forced US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to postpone a visit to China that would have defused sensitive issues such as the Chinese position on the war in Ukraine, the technology competition and the Taiwan question.
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 increased sanctions against Chinese chipmakers in recent months, now hampered to source American technologies.
The visits of Western parliamentarians, particularly Americans, to Taiwan, an island whose sovereignty Beijing claims and intends to attach to mainland China, has also contributed to straining relations.
