President Xi Paints US as Biggest Threat to China’s Security, Development

Xi was quoted by The New York Times as making the remarks while he was outlining Beijing’s development plans and economic ​outlook after emergence from the coronavirus pandemic.

“The biggest source of chaos in the present-day world is the United States,” the Chinese president said. ​“The United States is the biggest threat to our country’s development and security.”

“The East is growing and the West is declining,” President Xi said.

The Chinese leader is scheduled this week to talk more about his country’s development strategy at the National People’s Congress — the main legislative body of the People's Republic of China — and to unveil a long-term blueprint for navigating in the new global environment.

Xi’s remarks came in an apparent response to a similar comment from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who claimed that China was the main “geopolitical challenge” of the 21st century.

The US President Joe Biden administration has accused Beijing of human rights abuses and a crackdown on protesters in Hong Kong, which the Chinese government has dismissed.

Biden instructed the Pentagon last month to create a working group to review a military strategy toward China. The US president also called on the European Union (EU) at the Munich Security Conference to act as a united front with Washington in confronting Beijing.

In his first telephone conversation with the US president, Xi had said that a confrontation between China and the United States would be a “disaster” and that the two countries should resolve matters between them peacefully.

President Xi told Biden that the two sides would sometimes have different views but “the key is to respect each other, treat each other as equals, and properly manage and handle them in a constructive manner.”

China is expected to reveal a robust increase in its military budget at the March 5 annual opening of the country’s parliament.

Ties between Washington and Beijing particularly soured under former US President Donald Trump, who clashed with China on trade, technology, and regional security, among other things.

Biden does not seem to plan to pursue a different path with Beijing, describing China as Washington’s “most serious competitor,” and saying the US would continue to confront what he has called China’s “attack on human rights, intellectual property and global governance.”

Beijing has rejected those charges against itself and repeatedly said that the US must stop interfering in its internal affairs.