WASHINGTON – President Biden on Wednesday night spoke with President Xi Jinping of China, who expressed concern about Beijing’s aggressive foreign policy and the violation of human rights at home in the first conversation between the two leaders since the election of Mr. Biden.
As for the most important foreign relationship of his presidency, Mr. Biden issued these warnings as he offered to work together on global priorities of mutual interest.
In a summary of the call, the White House said that Mr. Biden “stressed his fundamental concern about Beijing’s coercive and unjust economic practices, the oppression of Hong Kong, the violation of human rights in Xinjiang and increasingly assertive action in the region, including against Taiwan.” But the leaders also discuss shared challenges of global health security, climate change and arms proliferation ‘, according to the summary.
According to the official Chinese report of the call of the two leaders, issued by Xinhua, Mr. Xi Mnr. Biden warned that the two powers had to work together or risk a disaster, and he gave no sign that they had given land over Xinjiang, Hong Kong or Taiwan.
“When China and the United States work together, both parties win, and when they fight, both are harmed,” he said. Xi said according to the Chinese summary. ” The cooperation between China and the USA can achieve many good things that benefit both countries and the whole world. Confrontation between China and the US will definitely be a disaster for both countries and the world. ”
Mr. Xi said the two countries could also open up more contacts in economic, financial, law enforcement and military fields, calling for dialogue to be ‘re-established’ to promote mutual understanding and ‘avoid misunderstandings and misjudgments’. Greater cooperation, he added, will also help fight the coronavirus pandemic, revive the world economy and maintain regional stability.
But Mr. Xi het mnr. Biden warned to tread carefully on what he described as “China’s domestic issue”, according to Xinhua. “In matters of Chinese sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said. Xi said, referring to Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan, “the American side must respect China’s core interests and act with caution.”
Although this was their first conversation since they became their national leaders, Mr. Biden and Xi well known. In 2011 and 2012, when Mr. Biden was the vice president and Mr. Xi was the heir to China’s presidency, the two men spent tens of hours together. In a recent interview with CBS News, Biden said he believes he will spend more time with Mr. Xi spent than with any other world leader. “I know him pretty well,” he said. Biden said.
Mr. Biden’s personal approach to Mr. Xi is probably a clear shift from that of President Donald J. Trump, who spent his first three years in office pouring praise and flattery on the Chinese leader in pursuit of a major trade deal he never had. . before bitterly exploiting him last spring after the coronavirus originated in China and devastated the US economy.
All along, Trump’s advisers have viewed China as the United States’ biggest strategic threat. By the end of mr. Trump’s presidency, foreign policy experts generally agreed that relations between Washington and Beijing were near their lowest point since the 1949 communist revolution. But most also believe that the two nations have no choice but to work together on issues such as trade, climate change and the world economy.
While Mr. Biden and mr. Xi established something of a good relationship during the Obama era, Mr. Biden also sharply criticized his counterpart, who shortly after accepting that China’s presidency began serious political repression at home in 2013 and pursued aggressive territorial demands. in East Asia.
“He is very bright,” he said. Biden told CBS. “He’s very tough. He has not – and I do not mean it as criticism, just the reality – he does not have a democratic, small D-leg in his body. ”
Mr. Biden said he and the Chinese president “need not have any conflict”, but warned that “there will be extreme competition.”
“I’m not going to do it like Trump did,” he said. Bid added. “We are going to focus on international road rules.”
In a briefing for reporters before the call, senior officials from the Biden administration emphasized this. They said that Mr. Biden will continue some of the Trump administration’s confrontational policies toward Beijing, which include disputing Chinese territorial claims in Asia, Taiwan’s independence and Hong Kong’s autonomy, and combating China’s cyber theft and burglary. The administration officials said their approach would be more effective than Mr. Trump with renewed ties with traditional American allies with whom Mr. Trump regularly chose battles.
They said they would maintain the tariffs that Trump imposed on China’s exports to the United States while conducting a broad review of trade policy between the United States and China.
Competition work with Beijing would begin at home, officials said with their efforts to defeat the coronavirus and rebuild the US economy, including by strengthening next-generation technologies such as artificial intelligence and 5G networks, in which China threatens to take the lead take. .
They also call it crucial to repair the damaged political institutions of the United States and its reputation as a defender of human rights and democracy, areas in which Mr. Trump was often indifferent.
Earlier Wednesday, Mr. Biden announced sanctions against Myanmar’s ruling generals for their role in a military coup this month, an action that senior officials cited as a clear demonstration of America’s renewed commitment to democracy abroad – in this case China’s backyard.
And during an afternoon visit to the Pentagon, the president announced the creation of a task force of the Department of Defense to review U.S. military policy toward China. It will report its findings by the summer.
Mr. Xi was perhaps one of the last world leaders that Mr. Biden publicly congratulated him on his victory, due to the difficult messages about Mr. Pray for China and its leadership. He was also one of the last major leaders to speak to the new US president after the election.
That coolness is far from the friendly tone the men adopted during their various meetings in the United States and China during the Obama administration. During a 2013 trip that Mr. Praying after Beijing undertook, Mr. Xi addressed him in the Great Hall of the People as ‘my old friend’.
Chris Buckley contribution made.