► How has China changed its discourse in recent days?
Even though Sino-American tensions date back to the Trump era, China’s belligerent rhetoric continues to become more radical. On Tuesday March 7, during a press conference forbidden to foreign journalists in Beijing, the new Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang directly accused the United States of stoking tensions and warned against the risk of “conflict and confrontation”. He also called the attitude of the American political world towards China“kind of hysterical neomaccarthyism”.
The day before, leader Xi Jinping had issued a rare diatribe against the United States, accusing them of dragging Western countries into “a policy of containment, encirclement and repression against China”. For Robert Dujarric, co-director of the Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies at Temple University in Tokyo, “Xi Jinping is troubled by the evolution of the balance of power against the United States, which is better under Joe Biden than under Donald Trump, by the foreign military aid sent to Ukraine and the rediscovered unity of the Western world”. China is screaming louder than before.
► In what context do these aggressive attacks against the United States take place?
These warmongering speeches have been widely reported by all Chinese state media at the time of the annual session of the National People’s Congress since March 5. The regime has every interest in diverting public opinion from the catastrophic exit from “zero Covid” in December 2022 (1.5 million dead) by pointing the finger at the external threats against which the people must unite behind their leader. Waiting for an economic rebound.
“Chinese growth is at half mast, assures Valérie Niquet, Asia specialist at the Foundation for Strategic Research (FRS), and it must absolutely bounce back by once again attracting foreign investors who are more wary than ever. » But for Robert Dujarric, “despite Chinese risks, all governments, including the United States, wish to maintain commercial relations with China, with certain limits however”.
► With the war in Ukraine as a backdrop, how far can these Sino-American tensions go?
China did not take kindly to US accusations of its intentions to supply arms to Russia for its war against Ukraine. The Beijing-Moscow relationship is not “a threat to any country in the world”, retorted the Chinese Qin Gang again. However, Beijing has never aligned itself so much with its “unwavering ally” Russia, despite the consequences for its image in Europe or the United States (only 15% of Americans have a positive image of China).
“The problem for Xi is that his marriage to Putin looks more and more like a misalliance,” notes Robert Dujarric. And some observers explain the Chinese warlike rhetoric of the moment as a possible signal of an imminent military invasion of Taiwan while the eyes of the world are on Ukraine. ” I do not believe it one second, reacts Valérie Niquet, China will not go to war against Taiwan. She can’t afford it. It would be a catastrophic defeat for Xi Jinping and especially for the credibility of the Chinese Communist Party. »