China rips US for seeing it as ‘enemy’ after Raimondo remarks

China criticized the US for seeing it as a threat after Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo defended efforts to deprive the Asian nation of cutting-edge semiconductors, underscoring the fragility of recently stabilized ties.

“The US should stick to the right perception and work with China to deliver on the common understandings reached in the San Francisco meeting,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a regular press briefing in Beijing on Monday, referring to a sitdown last month between the leaders of the two nations.

The US should “stop seeing China as a hypothetical enemy and saying one thing but doing another,” he said.

Raimondo said Saturday at a forum in California that she needed more funding to prevent the Asian nation from catching up on chips that can be used for military purposes. She said this was “the biggest threat we’ve ever had,” adding that “China is not our friend.”

President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met for the first time in a year last month in the US, scoring a handful of small victories they hope will stop a surge in tensions that threatened global economic growth.

But the two left their meeting with major issues such as Taiwan’s status and the US tech restrictions in place. Underscoring their differences, China criticized the US on Monday after an American warship sailed in disputed waters in the South China Sea.

Raimondo signaled that US had no intention of backing down on high-end chips on China, saying: “We’re going to deny them our most cutting-edge technology.”

Wang, the foreign ministry spokesman, said that stance exposed the “Cold War mentality” of the US and its desire for hegemony. He also indicated that his nation would get around the tech curbs eventually.

“The violation of the rules and regulations of the free-trade market is just like building a dam with a sieve,” he said. “No matter how hard you try, the water will just flow through it.”