China doesn’t seek to surpass the US as the globe’s dominant power but is prepared to “fight to the end” if needed, defence minister Wei Fenghe said, as trade friction grows between the world’s biggest economies.

“China has no intention, no power, to be the boss of this world, and against the United States to fight for this status,” Wei said on Sunday at the Shangri-La Dialogue, a major regional security conference.

“Confrontation, including between China and the United States, is inconsistent with the interests of the two countries’ peoples and is not in the interest of the people of the world,” he said.

Wei added at the event in Singapore that China still wants to resolve escalating tensions through dialogue, but it won’t be bullied.

“If the US wants to talk, we will keep the door open,” Wei said. “If they want to fight, we will fight to the end.”

A day earlier, acting US defence secretary Patrick Shanahan told the same gathering that the US and China would eventually resolve their differences, playing down the significance of escalating trade tensions even as he ripped Beijing’s leaders for behavior that “sows distrust” in Asia.

The trade conflict between the US and China took a dramatic turn for the worse in May when President Donald Trump hiked tariffs after accusing Beijing of reneging on commitments in negotiations.

