Analysts believe the trade dispute between the countries will last until at least the 2020 US presidential election.
In the last week alone China has been angered by the imposition of new US tariffs on Chinese imports, as well as a planned arms sale to democratic Taiwan, claimed by Beijing as sacred Chinese territory.
In a Wednesday editorial, the state-run, English-language China Daily said the Taiwan weapons sale would only worsen already poor ties with China.
It read: “Now that the Trump administration is aggressively seeking to challenge China’s interests on both the economic and military fronts, one wonders whether Washington wants to permanently damage Sino-US relations.
“And since the Trump administration is trying to jettison all principles that govern bilateral relations in a desperate bid to suit its own purpose, China should not only prepare for the worst but also be ready to appropriately respond to the US’ provocations.”
China and the United States can compete but should not view each other with a Cold War mentality and should avoid thinking it is a zero-sum game, the Chinese government’s top diplomat said, amid deteriorating ties between the superpowers.
Beijing and Washington are locked in an increasingly bitter trade war and are increasingly at odds over other issues, such as US support for self-ruled Taiwan which China claims, and US sanctions on China’s military for buying Russian weapons.
In May, the Chinese military issued a US Navy plane flying 16,500 feet over an island in the South China sea to “leave immediately” a total of six times.
The US Navy crew responding by insisting it was operating beyond the national airspace of any coastal state.
At a meeting with former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger on Tuesday in New York on the sidelines of a United Nations meeting, Chinese State Councillor Wang Yi said that the two countries would only lose if they confronted each other.
Mr Wang said: “China and the United States can have competition, but should not use a Cold War mentality to view each other, and nor should they slip into the trap of a zero-sum game.
“Recently, certain US forces domestically have been continually blackening China’s name, creating antagonistic feeling, which has caused serious harm to the atmosphere of Sino-US ties.
If that continued, it would lead relations down a path which would not in the interest of either country or the international community, he said.
China hopes the United States meets it halfway so they can have a “correct perception” of each other, and prevent this negative momentum from spreading to ensure relations don’t stray from the correct track, Mr Wang added.
Speaking yesterday, US President Donald Trump’s top trade official Robert Lighthizer said changing China’s economic policies to become more market-oriented “is not going to be easy” even with tariffs now in place on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods.
Meanwhile Mr Trump, speaking at the United Nations also on Tuesday, criticised China for its trade practices, and offered a thunderous recitation of his “America First” policies.
In Beijing on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said that he hoped the United States could use the opportunity to listen to what other leaders had had to say at the United Nations on upholding multilateralism and free trade.
He said the United States should “have a think about what role they, as a top country, should play in promoting the resolution of hot button global and regional issues, responding to global threats and challenges and promoting world peace and development”.
Prospects for fresh trade talks between Washington and Beijing collapsed last week.
And analysts believe neither side is in the mood to compromise any time soon.