Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi shows the way to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, before their meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit, in Rome, Italy October 31, 2021. [Source: Reuters]

The United States will not block China from growing its economy but wants it to adhere to international rules.

This was highlighted by Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a long-awaited speech on U.S. strategy to address China’s rise as a great power.

Blinken says Washington will not try to change China’s political system but will defend international law and institutions that maintain peace and security and make it possible for countries to coexist.

U.S.-China relations sank to their lowest level in decades under former President Donald Trump and have soured further under President Joe Biden, a Democrat who has kept up his Republican predecessor’s sweeping tariffs on Chinese goods while pursuing closer ties with allies to push back against Beijing.

Seventeen months into his administration Biden had faced criticism from Republicans and some foreign policy watchers for not announcing a formal strategy on China, the world’s second-largest economy and Washington’s main strategic rival.

Foreign crises, including the messy U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan last year and Russia’s war in Ukraine, have created distractions for Biden, who has vowed not to let China surpass the United States as a global leader on his watch.