Trump says Xi's 'declining nation' comment targeted the Biden govt, claims he 'revived US'

US President Donald Trump on Friday sought to reframe his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping's "declining nation" remark, arguing that he was referring to the "damage" done by the previous Biden administration.

Trump went on to defend his government, claiming without any evidence that the United States has re-emerged as the world's leading economic and military power after he returned to the White House. Trump painted his defensive posture in a post on TruthSocial.

He insisted that the assessment of "decline" was "100 per cent correct" when referring to what he described as the impact of former US President Joe Biden's government. In his post, Trump blamed the Biden administration for weakening the borders, increasing taxes and policy shifts on social issues, along with economic management.

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"When President Xi very elegantly referred to the United States as perhaps being a declining nation, he was referring to the tremendous damage we suffered during the four years of Sleepy Joe Biden and the Biden Administration, and on that score, he was 100% correct. Our Country suffered immeasurably with open borders, high taxes, transgender for everybody, men in women's sports, DEI, horrible trade deals, rampant crime, and so much more!" he wrote in the post.

Trump defends himself

The American leader went on to insist that the Chinese president was not referring to the "incredible rise" the United States has witnessed during the last 16 months since he returned to the Oval Office.

Trump went on to list themes such as "all-time high stock markets and 401K's, military victory and thriving relationship in Venezuela, the military decimation of Iran (to be continued!) -- Strongest military on earth by far, economic powerhouse again, with a record 18 trillion dollars being invested into the United States by others, best US job market in history, with more people working in the United States right now than ever before, ending country destroying DEI, and so many other things that it would be impossible to readily list".

The Potus went on to state that President Xi congratulated him on the success of his administration in achieving its goals in "such a short period of time".

Trump concluded his post by saying the United States had moved from a position of decline to renewed global prominence and that he hoped for a stronger and better relationship with China.

"Two years ago, we were, in fact, a Nation in decline. On that, I fully agree with President Xi! But now, the United States is the hottest Nation anywhere in the world, and hopefully our relationship with China will be stronger and better than ever before," he wrote in the post.

What Xi said

Trump's reaction came during his visit to China for a two-day bilateral summit, where he will be discussing wide-ranging issues with his Chinese counterpart. According to The Wall Street Journal, Xi has repeatedly said: "The East is rising, and the West is declining".

While Xi used the word "The West", Chinese leadership and political analysts saw the remarks as a dig at the United States. It wasn't immediately clear if Xi made similar comments during this week's Beijing summit, which included closed-door discussions with Trump, as per WSJ.

In fact, on Thursday, Chinese President Xi Jinping adopted a warm and conciliatory tone during a state banquet honouring Trump. He went on to propose that China's "great rejuvenation" and America's "Make America Great Again" agenda could advance together as the two powers work towards a more stable bilateral relationship.

With inputs from agencies.