Xi accuses US of trying to hold back China’s development

By JOE McDONALD
Associated Press

BEIJING (AP) — Is the United States out to sabotage China? Chinese leaders think so. President Xi Jinping accused Washington this week of trying to isolate his country and hold back its development. That reflects the ruling Communist Party’s growing frustration that its pursuit of prosperity and global influence is threatened by U.S. restrictions on access to technology, its support for Taiwan and other moves. Xi said a U.S.-led campaign of “containment and suppression” has “brought unprecedented, severe challenges.” China is hardly the only government to fume at Washington’s dominance of global strategic and economic affairs. But Chinese leaders see the United States as making extra effort to thwart Beijing as a challenger for regional and possibly global leadership.