China big focus in Trump's national security paper

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US President Donald Trump unveiled his America First foreign policy on Monday, framing it as a new era of competition in his national security strategy.

China was a major focus of the document. While past administrations have spoken of strategic partnerships, Trump clearly implied that China was a "strategic competitor" to the US.

Trump said: "We accept that vigorous military, economic and political contests are now playing out all around the world."

While Trump’s speech was diplomatic, the report, which is congressionally mandated for every president, was much more strident.

The paper sees China as a revisionist power, looking to challenge US dominance in the South China Sea.

“China seeks to displace the United States in the Indo-Pacific region, expand the reaches of its state-driven economic model, and reorder the region in its favor,” it reads.

File photo of US Presidential Donald Trump addressing supporters during his election campaign in South Carolina, in December 2015. /Xinhua Photo

It’s important to remember that Trump was a vocal critic of China as a presidential candidate.

While his tone has mellowed during the first year of his presidency, Monday’s speech and paper could be a return to a more confrontational stance with Washington's largest trading partner.

Before the release of the paper, Beijing urged "strategic mutual trust".

China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said both countries should work on building “resilient, stable and healthy” economic ties.

"China has opened up a road of cooperation and win-win that benefits the world while seeing to China’s own development. This has been widely recognized by the international community,” Hua told reporters.