Xi raises tone against Biden for trying to ‘suppress’ China – 07/03/2023 – Nelson de Sá

The call in the Xinhua news agency was protocol, “Chinese Foreign Minister urges US to opt for mutually beneficial coexistence”, during a press conference upon taking office, at the National People’s Congress.

Already the nationalist portal Guancha, from Shanghai, headlined “Qin Gang: US wants China not to retaliate when hit or censored, which is impossible”. In Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, “Qin says containment and suppression won’t make America great and won’t stop China.”

The Bloomberg headline, among other Americans, was even more loaded, “China Warns U.S. Risks Catastrophe with Moves to ‘Contain’ Beijing,” editing this passage from Qin’s press conference:

“The US says it wants to outdo China and does not seek conflict, but in reality its so-called competition is aimed at containing and suppressing China in all aspects. It is a reckless gamble that jeopardizes the fundamental interests of the two peoples and even the future of mankind.”

Before Qin, Xi spoke. The transcript distributed by Xinhua, of leader Xi Jinping’s first speech at the congress, on Monday, did not reproduce the bombastic excerpt, but the broadcast by state radio and TV networks did.

The Wall Street Journal (image above), Bloomberg and finally the New York Times then emphasized a statement by Xi, with what was described in the second as a “straight shot at the US”. He said:

“Comprehensive containment and suppression by Western countries led by the US in recent years has brought unprecedented and severe challenges to China’s development.”

CHIPS

With no mention of the US, the cover of Tuesday’s Renmin Ribao (People’s Daily) featured a call from Xi Jinping to Chinese industrialists along the same lines, “Put aside the burden and develop boldly.”

More concretely, in the digital headline of the Financial Times, “China remakes ministries to face the West in technology”, starting with chips or semiconductors.

MCCARTHY IS NOT COMING AGAIN

On the other hand, the FT revealed that Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen “persuaded US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to meet in California instead of Taipei in April to avoid a Chinese military response as tensions mount”. between Beijing and Washington”.

The news was corroborated by the Reuters agency and echoed by Taiwanese newspapers such as the opposition Lianhe Bao (United Daily News) and the governing Ziyou Shibao (Liberty Times, image above), with the local government’s position that it cannot yet confirm the meeting. .

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