A new American-led effort to counter China’s use of infrastructure subsidies to purchase influence in the Indo-Pacific drew a derisive response from the Asian power.

“It is a good thing that the U.S., Japan and Australia are willing to increase their input in the infrastructure building of the region,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said during Tuesday’s press briefing. “If my memory serves me correctly, this is not the first time for them to make this statement. As a Chinese saying goes, talking up big is not as good as rolling up sleeves.”