The United States also announced this week an investigation into China’s trade practices.
Beijing:
Beijing on Thursday accused the United States of hypocrisy in response to President Joe Biden’s accusations that China is “xenophobic” and “cheating” on trade.
“I would like to ask him: are you talking about China or the US itself?” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian when asked about the comments.
In a speech Wednesday to union members, Biden called for an increase in steel tariffs on China, accusing it of cheating while courting blue-collar voters on an election campaign trip to the battleground state of Pennsylvania.
“They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden, 81, said to applause at the headquarters of the United Steelworkers union in Pittsburgh.
The Democrat said Chinese steel companies “don’t have to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government heavily subsidizes them.”
Biden said he had asked the U.S. Trade Representative to triple tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was confirmed to be using anticompetitive practices.
“They are xenophobic,” he added. “They have real problems. I’m not looking for a fight with China, I’m looking for competition – but fair competition.”
Beijing and Washington have clashed in recent years over critical issues from technology and trade to human rights, as well as over the autonomous island of Taiwan and the disputed South China Sea.
Relations have stabilized somewhat since Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping met in San Francisco in November for talks that both sides described as a qualified success.
The two held a follow-up phone call this month in which they clashed over U.S. trade restrictions on technology and Taiwan, which Beijing claims.
But they also agreed that two senior US officials would soon travel to China – Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visited last week, with diplomat Antony Blinken arriving in Beijing soon.
The United States this week also announced an investigation into China’s business practices in the shipbuilding, maritime and logistics sectors.
China’s Ministry of Commerce responded, saying the investigation was “filled with false accusations, misinterpreting normal trade and investment activities as harmful to US national security and corporate interests, and blaming China for its own industrial problems.” .
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