China is not seeking to replace or to confront the United States as the world’s top technological power, a foreign ministry spokesperson said Friday.

Responding to a litany of recent accusations from the Trump administration, Hua Chunying said China will fight back against “malicious slander” and attacks from Washington.

”China’s long-term economic growth fundamentals have remained unchanged after withstanding the impact of the novel coronavirus outbreak, despite what critics say is an increasingly aggressive foreign policy that looks to expand Chinese influence in the military, technology, economic and other spheres,” Chunying said Friday at a regular press briefing.

“As an independent sovereign state, China has the right to safeguard its own sovereignty, security and development interests, to defend the achievements made by the Chinese people with hard work, to refuse any bullying and injustice against China, and to fight back against malicious slander and attacks by the US against China,” Hua added.

Also read: US attorney general blasts American firms for ‘kowtowing’ to Beijing

Her comments came in response to a speech Thursday by US Attorney General William Barr blasted American firms with Chinese links for ‘kowtowing’ to Beijing.

Barr took aim at Hollywood companies, including Walt Disney Co on Thursday as well as large technology firms like Apple, Alphabet’s Google and Microsoft Corp over company actions with China.

“Corporations such as Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Apple have shown themselves all too willing to collaborate with the (Chinese Communist party),” Barr said.

He added that Hollywood has routinely caved into pressure and censored their films “to appease the Chinese Communist Party.”

“I suspect Walt Disney would be disheartened to see how the company he founded deals with the foreign dictatorships of our day,” Barr said in a speech at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Michigan.

Barr chided US companies for being too willing to take steps to ensure access to the large Chinese market.

In recent months, US-China ties have dipped to their lowest ebb in decades, strained over issues ranging from the global coronavirus pandemic and China’s massive trade surpluses, to Beijing’s suppression of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, its military buildup in the South China Sea and treatment of minority Muslims.