Beijing accuses US of 'paranoid delusion' over innovation bill

Beijing on Wednesday accused Washington of "paranoid delusion" after the US Senate passed a sweeping industrial policy bill aimed at countering the surging economic threat from China.

The foreign affairs committee of China's top legislature called the bill an attempt to interfere in the country's internal affairs and deprive it of its "legitimate right to development through technology and economic decoupling," state media reported.

Both American political parties overcame partisan divisions to support pumping more than $170 billion into research and development on Tuesday, as concerns about competition from the world's second largest economy grow.


On Wednesday, the foreign affairs committee of China's National People's Congress said the bill was "full of Cold War mentality and ideological prejudice".

"The bill shows that the paranoid delusion of egoism has distorted the original intention of innovation and competition," it said, according to a report by the official Xinhua news agency.

The bill now heads to the US House of Representatives.