With unusual frankness, Xi Jinping attributes his problems to US sanctions

On the eve of his predictable third term as president, China’s top leader, Xi Jinpinghe is signaling he will take a tougher stance against what he perceives as an effort by the United States to block China’s rise.

And he’s doing it under uncommon conditions.

Xi hailed China’s success as proof that modernization does not equal Westernization.

He urged China to make efforts to develop advanced technologies to reduce their dependence on Western knowledge.

But on Monday he made clear what he saw as the main threat to China’s development: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

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

Xi’s new outspokenness may be welcomed by nationalist audiences at home, but could raise suspicions abroad at a time when Beijing has been trying to stabilize ties with the West.

It reflects how you prepare for a greater comparison and competition between the world’s two largest economies.

His meeting with the president Joe Biden in November it gave hope that Beijing and Washington would try to halt the downward spiral in their relations.

But since then tensions have only escalated due to a Chinese spy balloon, China’s close alignment with Russia and the export controls to China imposed by the United States.

“This is the first time, as far as I know, that Xi Jinping has come forward publicly and singled out the United States for taking this kind of action against China,” said Michael Swaine, senior fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.

“It is certainly a response to the harsh criticism of China, and of Xi Jinping himself, that Biden and many in the administration have launched in recent months.”

In a sign that Xi’s blunt approach signaled a broader shift in Beijing’s rhetoric, China’s new foreign minister, qin bandHe reiterated Xi’s charge of US restraint and defended Beijing’s right to respond.

“Actually, the United States wants China not to react when it is hit or cursed at, but that is impossible,” he said at a news conference in Beijing on Tuesday.

Qin also called on the United States to take a less confrontational stance towards his country.

“If the United States doesn’t brake and keep accelerating, there will be no guardrail that can stop the derailment,” he said.

China has come under increasing pressure from the United States, including on the trade front.

After the imposition of the president Donald Trump of long-standing tariffs on a wide range of Chinese exports to the United States, Biden has imposed steep restrictions on exports to China of semiconductors and semiconductor manufacturing equipment.

The Biden administration and Congress have increased scrutiny over Chinese investment in the US and have begun considering limits on US investment 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 had little immediate effect on global trade, but the Chinese government’s “zero COVID” measures have dampened economic activity massively, especially last year.

These measures included a two-month lockdown Shanghai which disrupted industrial supply chains and severely damaged consumer confidence, as well as several lockdowns across the country from late summer to early winter.

Xi’s comments on the US were part of a speech he gave to a Chinese business group. She urged private companies – key engines of growth and jobs – to work with the party to help China counter the challenges posed by US containment.

“We must remain calm, remain focused, seek progress while maintaining stability, act actively, unite as one and dare to fight‘ he said, according to the China TV Service.

Xi has held up China as a model for other countries, offering a different path to prosperity than the West.

This worldview rejects liberal democracy and a 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.

Overall, his speech was meant to reassure the public that the Chinese government still wants private companies to play an important role in the country’s economy.

The recent disappearance into government custody of a leading tech banker has shocked many tech executives.

The state-owned banking system also channeled much of its lending to state-owned companies rather than private companies.

Xi has tried to reassure private companies that the party has welcomed them as “one of us”.

But he also said they had a responsibility to help the party achieve “common prosperity,” a slogan about reducing income inequality that has been linked to the crackdown on tycoons.

Andrew K. Collier, chief executive of Hong Kong-based Orient Capital Research, said Xi may not have been trying to alter his stance towards the United States, but rather to reassure the Chinese public that he was defending theirs. interests.

“Xi Jinping’s containment comment may escalate tensions with the United States, but it is primarily aimed at a domestic audience,” Collier said.

“It’s trying to fuel the country’s high-tech companies for both economic growth and to manage decoupling at a time when China is facing strong economic headwinds.”

Tap the nationalist drum It’s a politically savvy way to achieve these goals.”

c.2023 The New York Times Society