U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price holds his first daily press briefing on Feb. 2, 2021.
The administration of Joe Biden said Tuesday (Feb. 2) that the U.S. is in no hurry to engage the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) now and that it is expected to wait until it is “in lockstep” with its allies and partners.
Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and head of the Central Committee’s Foreign Affairs Working Committee Office, called for a return to a predictable and constructive path for U.S.-China relations in a video address Monday night (Feb. 1), while saying Washington should respect Beijing‘s position on Taiwan and stop interfering in the issues of Hong Kong, Tibet and Xinjiang.
State Department spokesman Ned Pric responded to Young’s remarks Tuesday by saying that some issues include climate change and that “limited cooperation with China on these issues is in our national interest.
He said U.S. relationships with alliances and partners are “a force multiplier in any area of challenge, and that includes in our relationship with Beijing.
“So, as a first step, we want to make sure we are in step with these allies, with these partners, and then …… you can expect that (we) will engage with China in several areas, Price said.
At the same Time, he called on Beijing to “stop the military, diplomatic and economic pressure on Taiwan and engage in meaningful dialogue with Taiwan’s elected leaders.
In addition, Price said Washington is “deeply concerned” about the Chinese central government’s attempts to disbar and harass lawyers who represented the 12 Hong Kongers in their cases.
On August 23, 2020, the 12 Hong Kong nationals were arrested by the Guangdong Maritime Police Bureau and sent to Yantian Detention Center in Shenzhen for detention after they attempted to abscond on bail to smuggle themselves across Taiwan on a speedboat while on bail; 10 of them were sentenced by a Guangdong court on December 30 to prison terms ranging from seven months to three years.
We urge Beijing to respect human rights and the rule of law and immediately reinstate the lawyers,” Price wrote in a tweet.
White House declines to say whether Xi has asked to speak with Biden
President Biden has spoken with many world leaders since taking office on Jan. 20, but has yet to speak with Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said at a news conference, adding that she could not say when the two leaders might speak.
At the same time, she declined to say whether the Chinese side had requested a call with Biden.
During his campaign, Biden called Xi Jinping a “thug” and vowed to lead the international community in “pressuring, isolating and punishing China [the Communist Party of China].
The Biden Administration has yet to fully articulate its strategy toward China, the world’s second-largest economy, but the current moves suggest that the Biden administration is largely continuing former President Trump‘s (Trump’s) hard-line China Policy.
So far, the Biden administration has vowed to “get beyond” Beijing and has endorsed what the Trump Administration determined before he left office was the Chinese Communist Party’s genocide against Muslims in Xinjiang, but has also emphasized its desire to work with Beijing on policy priorities such as climate change.
Psaki said that with new Secretary of State Antony Blinken in place, “there will be more levels of engagement with China,” but she also echoed State Department spokesman Price in saying that the Biden administration’s conversations with allies and partners come first.
The relationship with China, of course, will be multi-layered, we will deal with climate issues, we will deal with economic issues, we will deal with security issues,” Psaki said.
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