China a rival power, challenge to US influence, values: Trump

China on Tuesday urged the US to “abandon its Cold War mentality and zero-sum game concept” after President Donald Trump labelled Beijing as a challenge to American power in a new document outlining his administration’s National Security Strategy.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying warned Washington that failure to do so “would only harm itself as well as others”.

“China will resolutely safeguard its sovereignty, security and right to develop,” she said. “No one should have the fantasy of expecting China to swallow the bitter fruit of harming its own interests.”

On Monday, Trump described China a “rival power” seeking to “challenge American influence, values and wealth”.

The new document outlining his presidency’s security strategy went even further as it called both China and Russia as “revisionist powers” who want “to shape a world antithetical to US values and interests”.

“We will help South Asian nations maintain their sovereignty as China increases its influence in the region,” according to the NSS.

“For decades, US policy was rooted in the belief that support for China’s rise and for its integration into the post-war international order would liberalise China. Contrary to our hopes, China expanded its power at the expense of the sovereignty of others,” the report said.

“It is building the most capable and well-funded military in the world, after our own. Its nuclear arsenal is growing and diversifying,” it said.

Part of China’s military modernisation and economic expansion is due to its access to the US innovation economy, including America’s world-class universities, the NSS said in an apparent acknowledgement of the American contribution in the rise of an assertive China.

Beijing retaliates saying Washington must abandon its Cold War mentality as it would only harm itself as well as others. China will resolutely safeguard its sovereignty, security and right to develop