Laura Bicker
BBC News, Beijing
Reuters
President Xi Jinping’s China faces the prospect of a trade war with the United States of Donald Trump
China has warned the United States that it is ready to fight “any type” of war after retalling against the assembly prices of President Donald Trump.
The two best economies in the world got closer to a trade war after Trump slapped more prices on all Chinese products. China quickly retaliated with the imposing tariffs of 10 to 15% on American agricultural products.
“If the war is what the United States wants, whether it is a tariff war, a trade war or any other type of war, we are ready to fight until the end,” the China Embassy said on Tuesday, republishing a line from a government statement.
This is one of the strongest rhetorics so far in China since Trump became president and came when the leaders met in Beijing for the annual national congress.
On Wednesday, Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang announced that China would again increase its defense expenses by 7.2% this year and warned that “invisible changes during a century were taking place around the world at a faster rate”. This increase was expected and corresponds to the figure announced last year.
Beijing leaders are trying to send a message to people in China that they are convinced that the country’s economy can grow, even with the threat of a trade war.
China wanted to portray an image of being a stable and peaceful country unlike the United States, which Beijing accuses of being involved in wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.
China can also hope to capitalize on the actions of Trump relating to American allies such as Canada and Mexico, which have also been struck by prices, and will not want to increase rhetoric too far to frighten the new potential global partners.
The Prime Minister’s speech in Beijing pointed out on Wednesday that China would continue to open up and hoped to attract more foreign investments.
In the past, China stressed that it is ready to go to war. Last October, President Xi called on the troops to strengthen their preparation for war as they held military exercises around the Autonomous Island of Taiwan. But there is a difference between military preparation and the desire to go to war.
Reuters
Beijing must increase military spending by more than 7% this year
The Chinese Embassy in the Washington post cited a declaration from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in English the day before, which also accused the United States of blaming China for the influx of Fentanyl drugs
“The fentanyl issue is a fragile excuse to increase American prices on Chinese imports,” said spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“Intimidation does not scare us. Intimidation does not work on us. Pressure, coercion or threats are not the right way to deal with China,” he added.
The American-Chinese relationship is always one of the most controversial in the world. This post on X has been widely shared and could be used by the Hawks of China in Trump’s office as proof that Beijing is the largest foreign and economic threat of Washington.
Beijing officials hoped that American-China Relations under Trump could take a more cordial start after inviting Xi to its inauguration. Trump also said that the two leaders had “a big phone call” only a few days before entering the White House.
It was reported that the two leaders should have another call last month. It did not happen.
XI had already fought against persistent consumption, a real estate crisis and unemployment.
China has undertaken to pump billions of dollars in its economy in difficulty and its leaders have unveiled the plan while thousands of delegates attend the national popular congress, a rubber parliament, which adopts decisions already taken behind closed doors.
China has the second world military budget at 245 billion dollars, but it is much smaller than that of the United States. Beijing spends 1.6% of GDP on its soldiers, much less than the United States or Russia, according to the International Stockholm Peace Research Institute.
However, analysts think that China minimizes how it spends a defense.
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