The website of the U.S. Department of Defense published an article on Saturday which cites U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper as saying that the United States is in an era of great power competition, which means that the top U.S. strategic competitors are China, then Russia, and that China is a bigger problem. He also accused China of wanting to rewrite the rules of the international order that have served the nations of the world, including China, so well since the end of World War II.

In response, Wang Wenbin, spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), said certain individuals in the United States always viewed China-U.S. relations from the perspective of Cold War mentality and "zero-sum game" mindset and advocated containing and suppressing China's development, adding China has upheld the international order all along, and always advocated international fairness and justice, which was in sharp contrast to the United States, which frequently pulls out of international treaties and organizations.