Former South Carolina governor and Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley took to the stage at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference near Washington on Friday.
Ms Haley, 51, is trying to stake a claim in an increasingly crowded field of Republicans running for president in 2024 — but she is polling poorly.
She attacked President Joe Biden for his age and how he has handled relations with China.
“I can't believe that Biden is letting China get away with so much,” she said.
“China thinks the American era has passed and so do our enemies, but they're wrong. America is not past our prime; it's just that our politicians are past theirs.”
Ms Haley, who was tapped by former president Donald Trump to lead the US delegation to the UN, hit out at what she views as “wokeness”.
A golden statue of former president Donald Trump at CPAC 2022 — video
“I'm running for president to renew an America that is strong and proud, not weak and woke.”
For decades, CPAC brought together a who's who of the Republican Party and was often a pathway to the Oval Office.
But while Ms Haley chose to speak at this year’s event, many prominent party leaders, including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who many believe is the leading candidate in the 2024 primary, did not.
It is a party-wide event, but the Trump family and its Maga (Make America Great Again) followers dominate it.
Donald Trump Jr warmed up the crowd on Friday, urging followers to not only vote conservative but support conservative-owned businesses.
His father will headline the weekend’s festivities with the keynote speech on Saturday.
Once a crucial gathering for conservative thinkers, CPAC has become a bastion for the party’s far right and another platform for Mr Trump and his acolytes, critics say.
“I just think it's very interesting,” said Melissa Brown, a member of Republican Women for Progress, a grassroots policy organisation that aims to get conservative women into office. ”
It is reflective of how the Trump wing has really taken a hold of the conference.”
Ms Brown said she would be skipping this year’s event in part because she does not like where it is heading.
“This year CPAC is really playing off a lot of very Trump base issues, focusing on culture war issues,” she told The National.
