Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley has branded China as an “enemy” and warned that the country has been preparing for war with the US “for years”.
The Republican presidential contender said in an interview on Sunday that she would take a tough stance toward Beijing if she secured the top spot in the White House in 2024.
She told CNN’s State of the Union: “Yes, I view China as an enemy…China’s been practically preparing for war with us for years.”
Haley added that America must “make sure that we’re serious about China and they know that we’re serious about them – not going and being nice to them and thinking that they’re going to change.”
It comes as China-US relations sink at an all-time low, with Beijing and Washington facing off on several key flashpoints.
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China’s repeated threats to invade Taiwan, its human rights record and a closer alignment with Russia, are a few examples that have sparked alarm in Washington in recent years.
In April, Ray Dalio, a billionaire who made his money running the biggest foreign hedge fund in China, warned the two are “at risk of crossing each other’s red lines” and starting a new war.
He made the horror prediction after speaking to non-Chinese policymakers in other countries (including the US), Chinese citizens and China experts outside of China.
Dalio wrote in a LinkedIn post: “What I mean when I say that the US and China are on the brink of war is that it appears that they are close to having a sanctions war and/or military war that neither side wants but many believe will probably happen.”
He later added: “I think that the greater provocations will most likely come from the American side, which I worry will cause a tit-for-tat crossing of the line.
But the Biden administration has been attempting to strike up more stable ties and better communication with Beijing over the last year.
In recent months, it has sent over top cabinet secretaries to Beijing with the likely goal of easing tensions.
Haley argued this will do little to mend broken ties and has vowed to take a more aggressive approach.
She told CNN’s Jake Tapper: “How much more has to happen for Biden to realize you don’t send Cabinet members over to China to appease them; you start getting serious with China and say: ‘We’re not going to put up with it.
“They keep sending different Cabinet officials over, Jake, and it’s embarrassing.”
Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang warned back in March that the US and China are headed for a “conflict and confrontation” if the US doesn’t change course.
He warned: “If the United States does not hit the brake, but continues to speed down the wrong path, no amount of guardrails can prevent derailing and there surely will be conflict and confrontation.
“Such competition is a reckless gamble, with the stakes being the fundamental interests of the two peoples and even the future of humanity.”
His comments echoed President Xi Jinping’s, who was quoted by the official Xinhua News Agency as saying: “Western countries led by the United States have implemented all-round containment, blockade and suppression of China, which has brought unprecedented grave challenges to our nation’s development.“
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