The US envoy to Japan slammed Xi Jinping’s handling of China’s economy while calling an upcoming visit to Beijing by Secretary of State Antony Blinken a chance to stabilize relations.
(Bloomberg) — The US envoy to Japan slammed Xi Jinping’s handling of China’s economy while calling an upcoming visit to Beijing by Secretary of State Antony Blinken a chance to stabilize relations.
“Look at the economy under President Xi,” Ambassador Rahm Emanuel told Bloomberg TV, citing the country’s high rate of youth unemployment and its property sector, which is witnessing a downturn. “To me Xi has done more work in containing China and affecting China’s rise economically than anybody else,” he added.
China’s economic rebound from ending coronavirus restrictions late last year has lost some of its momentum in May, official data showed this week, leading multiple investment banks to cut their forecasts for the country’s GDP growth this year to 5.5% or lower.
Blinken will travel to Beijing this weekend, becoming the highest-ranking US official to visit the country in five years.
While Blinken’s visit would be an “important step in normalizing, stabilizing” US and China ties, Emanuel said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s to Washington visit next week was “more important”.
Emanuel denied the US was seeking to contain Beijing, but said recent meetings between the US and Asia-Pacific countries such as South Korea, Japan, the Philippines and Australia were aimed at “leveling up our deterrence level” toward China. “The most important thing is what you do for credibility of deterrence,” he said.
–With assistance from Anna Edwards.
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