Chinese President Xi Jinping condemned the US-led"suppression of China" in a speech to delegates at an annual congress inBeijing, state media reported.
"Western countries led by the United States have implemented all-roundcontainment, encirclement and suppression of China, which has broughtunprecedented severe challenges to our country's development," Xi said, newsagency Xinhua reported late Monday.
The 69-year-old leader, who is gearing up to start a third consecutivepresidential term, said the past five years have been riddled with a new setof hurdles that threaten to weigh down China's economic rise.
Xi added that China must "have the courage to fight as the country facesprofound and complex changes in both the domestic and internationallandscape", according to a readout of the speech to delegates at the ChinesePeople's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
Beijing and Washington have butted heads in recent years over trade, humanrights and other issues, but relations soured even further last month whenthe US shot down a Chinese balloon it said was being used for surveillance --a claim strenuously denied by Beijing.
Top American officials have also repeatedly warned that China may invadeTaiwan in the coming years, pointing to Beijing's increasingly assertivemilitary moves around the self-ruled island, which it sees as its ownterritory and has vowed to bring under its control.
The balloon incident caused US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to postponea diplomatic trip to Beijing for a meeting that would have focused on a rangeof hot-button issues.-AFP
