China on Trump's Strategy: Drop the 'Cold War Mentality'

'Otherwise it will injure others and damage itself'
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 19, 2017 10:03 AM CST
China on Trump's Strategy: Drop the 'Cold War Mentality'
President Trump speaks in Washington on Monday and lays out a national security strategy that envisions nations in perpetual competition, reverses Obama-era warnings on climate change, and de-emphasizes multinational agreements.   (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

In unveiling a new US national security strategy Monday, President Trump called out China and Russia as "attempting to erode American security and prosperity," and he outlined myriad ways—weapons development, intellectual property theft, dumping money into the developing world—in which he sees them doing that, per the BBC. The two responded by expressing their displeasure. "We urge the United States to stop deliberately distorting China's strategic intentions and abandon a Cold War mentality," said a Foreign Ministry rep. "Otherwise it will injure others and damage itself." The Chinese Embassy in Washington chimed in with this: "It is selfish to put your national interest above other countries' interest and the mutual interest of the international community. The United States should also adapt and accept China's development."

A rep for Vladimir Putin did highlight a shared interest in cooperation "in areas which are beneficial for us" but said the document had a "clearly imperial nature" and remained fixated on the idea of a "unipolar world," reports ABC News. The AP notes Trump didn't just take a swing at China, but poked it, too, by reiterating ties with Taiwan. The document also promised to "re-energize our alliances" with Southeast Asian governments like those in the Philippines and Vietnam, which have gone head-to-head with China over claims to parts of the South China Sea. (More President Trump stories.)

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