China opposes US bill on strategic competition

The mastodon legislation will further the attempts by the US government to monitor and restrict Chinas technological development with the explicit goal of slowing it down or, indeed, sabotaging it completely, state-run CGTN reported.Wang Wenbin, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said the act seriously distorted facts, exaggerated the China threat theory and advocated for a comprehensive strategic competition between the worlds two major economies.Is the purpose of US development to defeat China in competition

China on Thursday firmly opposed a key US Senate committee-approved bill, which aims to step up strategic competition with Beijing on all fronts and supports the QUAD grouping.

The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, following a three hour debate and several amendments voted 21-1 to approve the Strategic Competition Act on Wednesday.

Known as the "Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, the Quad grouping comprises the US, India, Australia and Japan. The top leaders of the four countries held a historic virtual summit hosted by President Joe Biden last month. The mastodon legislation will further the attempts by the US government to monitor and restrict China's technological development with the explicit goal of slowing it down or, indeed, sabotaging it completely, state-run CGTN reported.

Wang Wenbin, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said the act seriously distorted facts, exaggerated the China threat theory and advocated for a comprehensive strategic competition between the world's two major economies.

''Is the purpose of US development to defeat China in competition? This distorted and narrow-minded mentality is not in any way compatible with the mindedness of a world power,'' Wang said at a daily press briefing, calling on Washington to reconsider and stop advancing the act.

You Wenze, a spokesperson for the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress, said the US bill is full of Cold War mentality and ideological bias and wantonly distorts and attacks China's development strategies as well as its domestic and foreign policies.

It has grossly interfered in China's internal affairs, You added.

The bill is neither in line with the trend of the times nor conducive to promoting peace, stability and development of the world, said You.

''It is doomed to go nowhere,'' state-run Xinhua news agency quoted You as saying.

The Taiwan-related clauses in the bill severely violated the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiques, and the bill has also sent misleading signals to the ''Taiwan independence'' separatist forces, he said.

Reiterating that the one-China principle is China's red line, You said China firmly opposes any form of official interactions between the United States and Taiwan.

Issues related to Xinjiang and Hong Kong are purely China's internal affairs which allow no foreign interference, You added.

''We strongly urge the US Congress to stop reviewing and promoting the bill,'' You said.

The landmark bill intended to improve the US' ability to compete with China in providing more aid to Africa and Latin America, greater funding for technology industries and a more robust US development bank were among the initiatives.

"The issues facing us today in foreign policy, and perhaps for the entire 21st century, is going to be China, China and China," Jim Risch of Idaho, the senior Republican on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, in the hearing on the Strategic Competition Act of 2021 was quoted as saying by the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.

"I can't overstate the significance of this bill," he said.

''China is strategic competition – not because that is what we want or what we have tried to create but because of the choices that Beijing has and is making," Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, the committee's chairman said.

"China today is challenging the United States and international community across every dimension of power – political, diplomatic, economic, innovation, military, even cultural – and with an alternative and deeply disturbing model for global governance," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)