China’s ‘paranoid delusion’ slur has echoes of the Cold War

President Joe Biden has been accused of firing the “starting gun” on a New Cold War between the United States and China.

In a hysterical condemnation, Beijing’s “Wolf Warrior” pack claimed Washington was suffering from “paranoid delusion” amid plans to pump US$250 billion into technological innovation.

Politicians across the Republican and Democrat divide came together to pass the Innovation and Competition Act in the Senate earlier this week. 

If it is passed in the House of Representatives, the bill will be signed into law by Biden.

“[China’s] Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People’s Congress on Wednesday voiced strong dissatisfaction with and opposition to the US Senate’s approval of [the] Act,” the Xinhua News Agency reported.

“The bill, full of ideological prejudice and driven by a Cold-War mentality, smears and slanders China’s development path, and foreign and domestic policies,” the official mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party of China added.

The facts:

• The multi-billion-dollar package will fund technology research, semiconductor development, and manufacturing.
• It will also be used to subsidize companies involved in robotics and chipmakers.
• Other crucial tech areas on the shopping list include artificial intelligence and quantum science.
• “We are in a competition to win the 21st century, and the starting gun has gone off,” Biden said.
• The legislation is seen as crucial for Washington to win the technological race against Beijing.

What was said: “It is long past time that we invest in American workers and American innovation,” Biden said in a statement.

Reaction to the news: “The Bill shows that the paranoid delusion of egoism has distorted the original intention of innovation and competition,” the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s de facto parliament, said as reported by Xinhua.

Cold War rhetoric: “The bill interferes in China’s internal affairs and attempts to contain China’s development under the banner of ‘innovation and competition,” the Foreign Affairs Committee added.

Tech clock ticking: “This is an opportunity for the United States to strike a blow on behalf of unfair competition that we are seeing from Communist China,” Republican Senator Roger Wicker, one of the main co-sponsors of the bill, said.

Delve deeper: The technological clash between the world’s two leading economies has been bubbling beneath the surface of a wider New Cold War. Amid President Xi Jinping’s banner of rising nationalism, key issues involve ideology, human rights, trade, and the rule of law.

China Factor comment: Xi’s hardline policies at home and bullying diplomacy abroad have left China facing a serious image problem. Human rights abuses against Uighur Muslims and the pro-democracy crackdown in Hong Kong have triggered a global backlash. In short, democracies across the world no longer trust Xi or the Communist Party.