China Says It Was Smeared in Biden’s State of the Union Address

Beijing says it does not want to define US-China relations as a competition as Biden does

The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Wednesday spoke out against President Biden’s State of the Union Address, where he took aim at Beijing and said the “competition” with China should unite Americans.

“China does not shy away or flinch from competition. However, we are opposed to defining the entire China-US relations by competition,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said.

“It is beneath a responsible country to use competition as a pretext to smear other countries and restrain their legitimate right to development, even at the expense of global industrial and supply chains,” she added, referring to recent US sanctions targeting China.

US-China relations are at their lowest point in decades as the US has been increasing sanctions, expanding its military footprint in the Asia Pacific, and boosting support for Taiwan. Mao Ning said that a “healthy and stable China-US relationship is in the fundamental interest of both peoples.”

US and Chinese officials recently made an effort to increase dialogue, but Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled a planned trip to China over the Chinese balloon that was spotted over the United States.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin tried to phone his Chinese counterpart after a US F-22 fighter jet shot down the balloon, but Pentagon officials said Beijing didn’t accept the call. China insists that the balloon the US shot down was only used to track weather for civilian purposes, while the Pentagon claims it was a spying device.

Author: Dave DeCamp

Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave.