It did not last long.
Within hours of President Joe Biden’s inauguration, his foreign policy team began to grapple with one of the government’s biggest challenges: China.
The US describes as “unproductive and cynical” a series of sanctions that China imposed on outgoing Donald Trump officials just as the inauguration took place.
“The imposition of these sanctions on Inauguration Day is apparently an attempt to play partisan divisions,” Emily Horne, a spokeswoman for President Biden’s National Security Council, told Reuters on Wednesday. “President Biden looks forward to working with leaders in both parties to position America to compete with China.”
China responded by criticizing the outgoing government, calling for healing and better relations between the two countries – even using a line from Biden’s inauguration speech.
“I believe that if both countries work together, better angels can defeat evil forces in US-China relations,” China spokesman Hua Chunying said.
In his speech emphasizing the need for unity to triumph over division, Biden said on Wednesday: “Through struggle, sacrifice and setbacks, our better angels have always prevailed,” – a phrase derived from Abraham Lincoln’s inaugural address in 1861.
The rhetorical altercation follows four years of deteriorating relations between America and China, with Trump and members of his team blaming the Covid-19 pandemic in China, with racist terms to describe the virus and criticism of Beijing’s treatment of Hong Kong protesters and the Uighur Muslim minority.
During this time, the countries – the two largest economies in the world – also became embroiled in a damaging trade war.
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Taiwan’s de facto ambassador to Washington attended Biden’s inauguration with an official invitation, a first, which may indicate that the new president will continue with Trump’s increased support for the self-governing island that Beijing claims is part of China.
Although it has been indicated that he will maintain pressure on Beijing, Biden’s team is expected to take a more traditional, diplomatic and multilateral approach than Trump did.
China on Wednesday imposed sanctions on 28 Trump officials, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro and Alex Azar, the secretary of health and human services. According to the statement from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the measures are restricted to Hong Kong, Macao or mainland China and restrict organizations that run them from doing business there.
In his last week in office, Pompeo unleashed an avalanche of measures against China and said on Tuesday that Beijing had committed “genocide and crimes against humanity” against the Uighur Muslim population.
China has repeatedly denied allegations of ill-treatment in its Xinjiang region, where the United Nations says at least 1 million Uighurs and other Muslims have been detained in camps.
Biden’s choice to succeed Pompeo, Antony Blinken, said on Tuesday he agrees with Pompeo’s assessment. He said during his confirmation hearing in the Senate that China ‘undoubtedly’ was the biggest challenge for the United States of any country.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Isabel Wang contributed.