The United States needs to end its obsession with perpetuating its supremacy and containing China, and cease using regional countries as its tools, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on September 23.

Spokesperson Lin Jian made the remarks at a daily press briefing following U.S. President Joe Biden's claims that China continues to act aggressively and is testing the U.S. and its allies in the Indo-Pacific region, claims which he made at the Quad summit in the U.S. over the weekend.

Lin noted that the Quad is seen as the premier regional grouping that plays a leading role in the United States' Indo-Pacific strategy. It is a tool the U.S. uses to contain China and perpetuate U.S. hegemony.

The U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy attempts to amass forces to exclude and contain China by peddling the "China threat" narrative, and the Quad attempts to muster military and security cooperation under the pretext of maritime issues, he said, adding that they have the same intention and the same tactics.

Though the U.S. claims it does not target China, the first topic of the summit was China-related, and China was made an issue throughout the event, Lin noted, saying that the U.S. is "lying through its teeth" and not even the U.S. media believes these lies.

"China believes that cooperation between countries should not target any third party or even harm their interests. Any regional initiative should follow the overwhelming trend of the region and promote regional peace, stability and prosperity," Lin said.

He stressed that ganging up to form exclusive groupings undermines mutual trust and cooperation between regional countries, runs counter to the overwhelming trend of pursuing peace, development, cooperation and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific, and is bound to fail.

The U.S. needs to end its obsession with perpetuating its supremacy and containing China, cease using regional countries as its tools, stop glossing over the strategic intentions behind all kinds of exclusive groupings, and act on its claim that the revitalization of its alliances is not aimed at China, instead of seeking selfish gains at the expense of other countries’ strategic security interests and the well-being of the people in the Asia-Pacific, Lin said.