Biden says China won’t dominate under his watch. Here’s China’s response.
President Joe Biden held his first full press conference since being elected President on March 25. When asked about his relationship with China, he responded with a vow to not let China achieve its “goal” of becoming the world’s leading economy.
“So I see stiff competition with China. China has an overall goal, and I don’t criticize them for the goal, but they have an overall goal to become the leading country in the world, the wealthiest country in the world, and the most powerful country in the world. That’s not going to happen on my watch because the United States are going to continue to grow and expand,” the President said.
Yesterday at a regular press conference, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying was asked about the remarks. Here’s her response in full:
“I believe that the ultimate goal of infrastructure development in any country should be to promote economic and social development, and help improve people’s wellbeing.
“Since the reform and opening up, China has made great achievements in infrastructure development. At present, China has 38,000 kilometers of high-speed railways in service and nearly 150,000 kilometers of expressways, both ranking the first in the world. A number of new infrastructure projects, such as the Fuxing Hao trains, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and the Beijing Daxing International Airport, have become shining brand names of China. In addition, China has built the world’s largest network of optical fibers and mobile communications, extending fiber-optic service to urban homes and broadband connectivity to villages. In the past, the goal was to build grand bridges to turn deep chasms into thoroughfares.
“Now, the convenient transportation has turned China’s 9.6-million-square-kilometer land into a huge one-day economic circle. On top of that, the construction of new types of infrastructure, such as 5G, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and the industrial Internet, is flourishing, which will greatly reinvigorate traditional industries, form new areas of economic growth, and promote sustained and high-quality economic development.
“China’s achievements in infrastructure development have been or are being translated into tangible benefits for the 1.4 billion Chinese people, helping them improve work efficiency, and making their lives more convenient and prosperous. Besides success at home, China is also conducting infrastructure cooperation with many other countries, especially BRI partner countries, which has played an important role in promoting local economic development and improving local people’s livelihood.
“As China is fostering a new development paradigm, we will open wider, and work with other countries to better ourselves and help each other grow, and share with the world more dividends of China’s development.”