China went from quiet & strategic to aggressive & bullish after Xi named himself King: Haley

China under President Xi Jinping has become more aggressive and bullish, former US Ambassador to United Nations Nikki Haley said on Tuesday, asserting that such a behavior is unlikely to last long. Indian-American Haley, in an interview to Fox News, said Chinese were quiet and strategic during her tenure at UN. y moved and made sure that y were trying to get positions in certain areas, and trying to get things done behind closed doors, she said.

"n once President Xi kind of named himself king, y got very aggressive. y got very bullish. y started to kind of point ir fingers in countries' faces saying, you'd better vote with us. y started to be very aggressive at UN in wanting positions and wanting to have leadership roles. And y started talking down to everyone," Haley alleged.

With ir Belt and Road initiative, Chinese started really trying to buy up se infrastructures or partnering with smaller countries on infrastructure projects, she said.

"But yet y go in, y wouldn't assimilate with countries. countries didn't like ir attitude when y were coming in. w we look at it, it's getting more aggressive in tone," said Haley, who resigned as UN ambassador in 2018 after nearly two years in post.

"But this can't last. You kw, any country that is t letting its people be free, re will be a time when people rebel. So right w y're continuing to push, y're continuing to put pressure on Hong Kong, as we've seen. We're starting to see pressure go to Taiwan, South China Sea, in India. All of this is m playing kind of a king of mountain scenario," Haley said.

She said US needs to "let m kw we're on to m, we need to actually follow through on intellectual property measures that were in that trade deal that we had and hold m accountable".

"We need to make sure we continue to let m kw we're building up our military so that y kw t to mess with us. We need to make sure that our American companies understand that when you do business in China, you are required to work with Chinese military. That is a national security threat to America. And we really need to have those conversations with those Americans," Haley said in response to a question.

Supporting President Donald Trump's decision to close Chinese consulate in Houston, Haley alleged that se consulates have been "spy centres" for a long time.

"I mean re's question that y had some illegal activity going on in those consulates. So I was thrilled to see m close down one in Houston, which was kwn to be kind of epicentre of where all of this was going on. And I think, you kw, when you have Chinese officials being hidden at consulates, it goes to show you're doing something wrong," she said.

"This is where we really have to crack down on spying. Wher it's intellectual property, wher it's ft that y're trying to do with our research with vaccine and with what's going on with coronavirus, we have to really start cracking down. I was glad to see m do that," Haley said.