U.S. President Joe Biden said Friday (March 26) that he suggested during a phone call with British Prime Minister John Johnson that democracies should also launch an infrastructure program that could compete with the Communist Party’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Biden told reporters, “I would suggest that we should actually have a similar initiative where democracies contribute to help communities around the world that are in fact in need.”
The multi-trillion-dollar “Belt and Road” project, launched by Communist Party leader Xi Jinping in 2013, is undertaking massive infrastructure investments and construction stretching from East Asia to Europe and Africa, and expanding the Communist Party’s economic and political influence around the world.
Speaking at his first official press conference in office a day ago, President Biden said the relationship between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party is a historical battle between democracy and dictatorship. He also said he would not let the Chinese Communist Party overtake the United States during his presidency.
I see a fierce competition with the Chinese Communist Party,” he said. The Chinese Communist Party has an overall goal, and I will not criticize them for that goal, but their overall goal is to become the world’s leading country, the richest country in the world, the most powerful country in the world. That’s not going to happen on my watch because the United States continues to grow and develop.”
Biden is currently fighting to launch and pass an ambitious U.S. infrastructure building program.
President Biden spoke by phone Friday with British Prime Minister Johnson. The White House said the two leaders “agreed to work closely together on shared foreign policy priorities, including China and Iran.”
On Monday, the United States, the European Union, Britain and Canada imposed sanctions on Chinese officials accused of human rights abuses in Xinjiang. The U.S., U.K. and Canada, along with New Zealand and Australia, also issued separate joint statements on the same day regarding the Chinese Communist Party’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang. This is the first such coordinated action by any country since Biden took office.
The Chinese government subsequently retaliated with sanctions against the European Union and the United Kingdom.
British Prime Minister Johnson and U.S. President Joe Biden expressed concern about the Communist Party’s retaliatory measures during a phone call.
A spokesperson for Prime Minister Johnson said after the call between the two leaders, “The Prime Minister and the President recalled the significant actions taken earlier this week by the United Kingdom, the United States and other international partners to impose sanctions against human rights abusers in Xinjiang and expressed concern about retaliatory actions taken by the Chinese Communist Party.”
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