China is undermining the security, autonomy and economic interests of many nations in the region

China perceives “rising India as a rival” and as such, wants to constrain New Delhi’s engagement with the US, Japan, Australia and other democracies, the US State Department said in its 70-page report.

"China perceives rising India as a rival and seeks to impel it to accommodate Beijing's ambitions by engaging economically while constraining New Delhi's strategic partnership with the US, Japan, Australia, and its relations with other democracies," the report said.

Released just ahead of the critical transition of power from Donald Trump’s administration to President-elect Joe Biden’s administration, the report pointed out that China is undermining the security, autonomy, and economic interests of many nations in the region.

"China is undermining the security, autonomy, and economic interests of many others in the region such as member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including those in the vital Mekong Region, as well as the nations of the Pacific Islands," the report said.

During his visit to New Delhi last month, Mike Pompeo said that the leaders and citizens in India and the US see with “increasing clarity” that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is “no friend to democracy and rule of law”, and that the US would “stand with the people of India to confront threats to their sovereignty and to their liberty”.

Meanwhile, out of habit, China has dismissed the report. In a strongly-worded statement, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that the report has been “concocted by Cold War fossils” who are destined to be “swept into the garbage dump of history”.

“The document is another anti-China lie concocted by Cold War fossils from the US State Department,” ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Friday.