(Sept 11): US Vice President Kamala Harris slammed her presidential rival Donald Trump for not protecting American interests against China, and lambasted his public praise for Chinese leader Xi Jinping during the global Covid-19 pandemic.

“Under Donald Trump’s presidency, he ended up selling American chips to China to help them improve and modernise their military,” Harris said during a televised debate on Tuesday evening.

“Policy about China should be making sure the United States of America wins the competition for the 21st century,” Vice President Harris added, claiming that Trump “sold us out” during his time in office.

China has become a top target during the US election, with Trump vowing to impose a 60% tariff and the Biden administration announcing a 100% levy on Chinese-made electric cars. Beijing has, so far, resisted any move that could backfire on the world’s second-largest economy, and not made clear which candidate it prefers.

While Trump placed tariffs on more than US$300 billion (RM1.30 trillion) of Chinese goods as the US president and sought to block countries from buying Huawei Technologies Co equipment for 5G networks, his opponent’s stance is lesser known after she joined the ticket late. The debate gave Harris a chance to flesh out her policy in comments likely to be closely watched in Beijing.

China was a recurring theme with Harris taking swipes at Trump for displays of admiration for Xi, whom President Joe Biden has publicly called a “dictator”.

“He actually thanked President Xi for what he did during Covid. Look at his tweet — ‘Thank you, President Xi. Exclamation point,’” Harris said. “We know that Xi was responsible for lacking and not giving us transparency about the origins of Covid.”

Trump commended the world’s No 2 economy for its “efforts and transparency” in containing the virus on Jan 25, 2020, at the pandemic’s dawn as the trade war was winding down. “It will all work out well,” he posted, thanking Xi on behalf of the American people.

Trade policy was another talking point. The Republican indicated again that he’d further hike tariffs on China if elected in November, a policy Harris criticised as bad for American consumers. The Federal Reserve has been trying to cool US inflation, an effort that frustrating access to cheap Chinese goods could hinder.

Trump defended his record, claiming Biden had kept his China curbs because they generated too much revenue to give up. He also pledged to clamp down on Chinese firms he said were building car plants in Mexico to skirt tariffs and flood the US market.

The sparring come amid “China Week” in the US House, as it votes on a swath of legislation clamping down on ties with Beijing. American lawmakers earlier this week passed a bill to blacklist Chinese biotech companies and their US subsidiaries.

Harris is largely expected to continue Biden’s approach of managing ties through “intensive diplomacy”, while rallying US partners to limit China’s access to cutting-edge chips on national security concerns.

Amid the back and forth, Trump called Harris the “worst vice president in the history of our country”. The Democrat criticised her rival for, among other things, inviting Taliban leaders to Camp David, in apparent reference to a meeting that was ultimately cancelled in 2019.

“You adore strong men instead of caring about democracy,” Harris told her challenger.