Chinese President Xi Jinping urged the United States this Wednesday “not to bet against China” and “not to interfere in the internal affairs” of his country, during a dinner with American businessmen in San Francisco.
Xi attended the event after having met hours earlier with his American counterpart, Joe Biden, to try to stabilize ties and prevent the increasingly competitive relationship from leading to open confrontation.
“China never bets against the United States and never interferes in its internal affairs. China has no intention of challenging the United States or overthrowing the country. On the contrary, we will be happy to see the United States confident, open, constantly growing and prosperous “said the Chinese leader, quoted by the official Xinhua news agency.
Xi expressed hope that Washington would “welcome a peaceful, stable and prosperous China.”
The Chinese leader considered it a “mistake” to see China, which is “committed to peaceful development,” as a threat, and to align himself with “all or nothing” thinking against his country.
Xi stressed that mutually beneficial cooperation is the “trend of the current times” and an “inherent property” of relations between the two powers.
“China seeks high-quality development and the United States is revitalizing its economy. There is much room for our cooperation and we are fully capable of helping each other succeed and achieve mutually beneficial results,” the Chinese president said.
The dinner, held on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, which takes place in San Francisco until Friday, brought together tycoons and company presidents who paid up to $40,000 for a table for eight people.
China is trying to revive its economy, which has recovered more slowly than expected after three years of pandemic and housing crisis.
Xi’s visit to the United States also comes at a time when American and Western companies are trying to reduce risk in their supply chains by moving some of their operations out of China.
In October, the US increased restrictions on exports to China of semiconductors and technology for the development of artificial intelligence, to which Beijing responded with controls on exports of graphite, crucial for the manufacture of batteries for electric vehicles.
Source: TSF
