MADRID, June 17 (Xinhua) - Washington changed its policy from containing China to confrontation due to fears over China's development, said Xulio Rios, director of the Observatory of Chinese Politics in Spain.

"Even without Donald Trump in the White House, relations between China and the United States only appear to admit conflict," he said in an article originally published in Luzes (Lights), a Galician language magazine, in 2019.

The article was recently reproduced by the Spanish newspaper Publico after Rios collected the Casa Asia 2021 Award earlier this month for his contribution in sinology.

"Washington has clearly moved from a policy of containment to confrontation and both US Democrats and Republicans agree that American hegemony is at stake," he said.  ■