Could China and the US be headed for an all-out confrontation?

If China’s freshly appointed foreign minister Qin Gang is to be believed, the answer is: yes - China and the US could be headed for an all-out confrontation. At his first press conference in the post, he slammed Washington's approach of "competition without conflict" and warned that the current dynamic threatened global peace. Speaking on the sidelines of the National People's Congress - China's rubber stamp parliament - Qin defied those expecting a more reconciliatory tone after the recent spy balloon incident and blamed the US for the war in Ukraine and rising tensions over Taiwan.