Chinese President Xi Jinping claimed at a Jan. 31 Politburo meeting that China "must quicken the pace of tech self-reliance to prevent being strangled by foreign countries," the South China Morning Post reported Feb. 2. Additionally, China's state-owned People's Daily newspaper published an article on Feb. 2 blaming the United States for suppressing the development of China's high-tech sectors and coercing other countries to join containment circles.