Xi Jinping Condemns Western ‘Repression’
During a parliamentary session in Beijing, the Chinese president spoke out against Western “control” and “oppression” of China.
Xi Jinping arrives for a parliamentary session.
AFP
Chinese President Xi Jinping condemned the “restriction” and “oppression” of his country by the West, and particularly the United States, during a parliamentary session in Beijing, state media reported.
Subjects of friction have proliferated in recent years, from the treatment of Uighur Muslims to an imbalance in the trade balance with Taiwan, dominating advanced technologies or accusations of espionage. They have led to Western and particularly American sanctions targeting China, to which Beijing has responded.
America at the Crossroads
“China’s external development environment is undergoing rapid changes. Uncertainty and unpredictability factors have increased significantly,” Xi Jinping said, according to an account published by China News Agency on Monday evening. “The Western countries, led by the United States, have implemented a policy of containment, encirclement and suppression against China, which has brought unprecedented challenges to our country’s development,” he said.
The 69-year-old leader, who is set to take an unprecedented third term as president in a matter of days, spoke to members of the advisory council during the annual parliamentary session. Xi Jinping also said the past five years have been marked by new sanctions that threaten to slow China’s economic rise. Sino-US relations reached a particularly tense period last month after a Chinese balloon was shot down by the US military on suspicion of spying.
Several US sanctions were targeted
The case forced US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to postpone a trip to China to help defuse critical issues such as the war in Ukraine, technology competition and the Taiwan issue. China and the US are locked in a fierce battle in semiconductor manufacturing as the Americans lose their dominance to the Asian giant.
In the name of a threat to its national security, the US has multiplied sanctions against Chinese chipmakers in recent months, now blocking the sourcing of US technologies. Visits by Western lawmakers, particularly Americans, to Taiwan, an island to which Beijing claims sovereignty and intends to annex it to mainland China, have helped strain relations.
AFP
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