The Chinese leader, with rare candor, blames the US containment problems

As he prepares to enter his expected third term as president, China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, is signaling that he will take a tougher stance against what he sees as an effort of the United States to prevent the rise of China. And he is doing so in unusually blunt terms.

Mr. Xi hailed China’s success as proof that modernization is not synonymous with Westernization. He has urged China to try to develop advanced technologies to reduce dependence on Western know-how. Then on Monday, he made clear what he sees as the main threat to China’s development: the United States.

“Western countries led by the United States have comprehensively implemented the containment, encirclement and suppression of China, which has brought unprecedented serious challenges to China’s development,” Xi said. our country”. a speechaccording to China’s official news agency.

Xi’s new outspokenness may work well at home with nationalist voters, but risks increasing vigilance abroad at a time when Beijing is seeking to stabilize ties with China. The West. It reflects how he prepares for more confrontation and competition between the world’s two largest economies.

His meeting with President Biden in November raised hopes that Beijing and Washington might try capture the downward spiral in relationship. But tensions since then have only escalated for a Chinese spy balloonChina near link with Russiaand export controls to China imposed by the United States.

“This is the first time I know that Xi Jinping has publicly come out and identified the United States as having problems,” said Michael Swaine, a senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Governance Techniques. such action against China. “It’s no doubt a response to the harsh criticisms of China and of Xi Jinping personally, which Biden and many in the administration have leveled in recent months.”

In a sign that Mr. Xi’s outspoken approach signals a broader shift in Beijing’s rhetoric, China’s new foreign minister Qin Gang reiterated Mr. Xi’s accusations of Chinese interference. States and defend Beijing’s right to respond.

“The US really wants China not to hit back when it is hit or cursed, but this is not possible,” he told a news conference in Beijing on Tuesday.

Mr. Qin also called for the US to take a less confrontational stance towards his country. “If the US does not brake and continues to accelerate, no guardrail can prevent a derailment,” he said.

China has come under increasing pressure from the United States, including on trade. After President Trump imposed longstanding tariffs on a variety of Chinese exports to the United States, President Biden imposed broad restrictions on exports of semiconductors and equipment. semiconductor production to China. The Biden administration and Congress have stepped up scrutiny of Chinese investments in the United States and begun reviewing limits on American investments in China’s technology sector.

China’s economy grew 3% last year, well below the government’s target of “about 5.5%. The US measures have had little immediate effect on overall trade, but the Chinese government’s “Covid-free” measures have posed a major drag on economic activity, particularly in last year. These measures include a two-month lockdown in Shanghai that disrupted industrial supply chains and severely damaged consumer confidence, as well as multiple citywide lockdowns across the country. country from late summer to early winter.

Xi’s comments about the United States were part of his speech to a group of Chinese businesses. He called on private companies — a key driver of growth and jobs — to work with the party to help China cope with the challenges posed by US containment.

“We must remain calm, maintain focus, seek progress while maintaining stability, act positively, unite as one and dare to fight,” he said, as reported by the media. Chinese figure.

Mr. Xi has seen China as a model for other countries – one that offers a different path to prosperity than the West. This worldview rejects liberal democracy and heavy reliance on the private sector and favors a model that emphasizes the centrality of the Communist Party and an increasingly state-led model of economic development. leader country.

His speech was mainly intended to reassure the audience that the Chinese government still wants private businesses to play a large role in the country’s economy. Recently disappeared in government custody of a leading banker for the technology sector has many tech executives worry. The state-owned banking system is also directing most loans to state-owned enterprises instead of private enterprises.

Mr. Xi has sought to assure private companies that the party considers them “one of us”. But he also said they have a responsibility to help the party achieve “common prosperity,” a slogan about reducing income inequality linked to crackdowns on tycoons.

Andrew K. Collier, managing director of Hong Kong-based Orient Capital Research, said that Mr. Xi may not be trying to adjust his stance towards the US nor reassure the Chinese public that he is protect their interests.

“Xi Jinping’s remarks about containment may increase tensions with the United States, but he is mainly speaking to a domestic audience,” said Collier. “He is trying to promote the country’s high-tech companies both for economic growth and to handle decoupling at a time when China is facing severe economic headwinds. Nationalist drumming is a politically wise way to achieve these goals.”

David Pierson And Olivia Wang contribution report.