U.S. President Joe Biden held his first press conference since taking office on Thursday (March 25). In the hour-long press conference, Biden spent nearly 10 minutes on his views on U.S.-China relations.
President Biden on China in his first press conference since taking office on March 25
Biden said he made clear to Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping during a two-hour call after taking office that the United States does not seek “confrontation,” but that there is “intense competition” between the United States and China and that the United States will insist that the Communist Party play by international rules. The United States will insist that the Chinese Communist Party “play fair” in accordance with international rules.
Biden noted that the overall goal of the Chinese Communist Party is “to become the world’s leading country, the richest country in the world and the most powerful country in the world.
“I’m not going to be critical of them for their goals,” Biden said, “but it’s not going to happen on my watch as the United States continues to grow and develop.”
Biden also again referred to his knowledge of Xi Jinping. “I’ve spent more Time with Xi Jinping than any other world leader,” Biden said. Biden had lengthy exchanges with Xi Jinping, then vice president of the Communist Party of China, during his tenure as vice president, which he described as “deep and detailed” and “frank.
He doesn’t have a shred of democracy in his bones, but he’s a smart guy,” Biden said of Xi at a press conference today. Like Putin, he’s one of those people who believes that autocracy is the wave of the future and that democracy can’t work in an increasingly complex world.”
Biden stressed that the world now faces “a battle between democracy and autocracy” and that “we have to prove that democracy works.”
To compete forcefully with the Chinese Communist Party, Biden believes the United States needs to do three things: First, invest more in American workers and American technology. Biden has pledged to boost investment in medical research, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, biotechnology and other areas to about 2 percent of GDP. “China is investing far more in this than we are because their plan is to own this future,” Biden said.
The second is rebuilding alliances. Biden spoke with 27 European leaders later Thursday, and he also spoke with the leaders of India, Japan and Australia earlier this month, with the China issue being one of the key topics in those conversations. Biden said the U.S. will discuss the future with its democratic allies and “hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable and follow the rules.” He also pointed out that this is not to be “anti-China”, but “we have to get the democracies to work together”.
Third, the United States will stand firm on its values and continue to speak out against the Chinese Communist Party’s violations of freedom and human rights. Biden said he had been outspoken in telling Xi Jinping, “As long as you and your country continue to so flagrantly violate human rights, we will continue to call the world’s attention in an unyielding way and clearly expose what is going on.”
According to Deb, director of the Kissinger Institute on U.S.-China Relations at the Wilson Center, Biden’s remarks at the press conference against the Chinese Communist Party were not as strongly worded, but laid out the facts of the U.S.-China rivalry very clearly.
“I don’t think Biden spoke very strongly today, he merely made it very clear. He said it’s a geopolitical contest as well as a contest of values, he said it’s a contest between autocracy and democracy. This he said clearly. Beijing doesn’t use that language, Xi generally avoids discussing that outright,” Debo told VOA. “Beijing wants to make peace, wants to deny these rivalries because they are not ready in terms of Chinese political Culture and diplomatic tradition to acknowledge that this is a rivalry that is moving toward confrontation, but Beijing is well aware of that point.”
At Thursday’s press conference, reporters asked Biden if he was more inclined than when he first took office to maintain tariffs on China, ban products produced by Chinese forced labor and cut off U.S. investment in the Communist Party’s participation in the international payment system, given the outcome of the Alaska talks and the Communist Party’s continued human rights abuses.
Biden did not positively answer the question about his administration’s next concrete move. He said, “Those are legitimate questions, but they only touch on a small part of the U.S.-China relationship.” He then turned to the basic framework of his policy toward the Chinese Communist Party.
In response, Deb, director of the Kissinger Institute for U.S.-China Relations at the Wilson Center, argued that Biden was intent on avoiding overcommitment.
He told Voice of America, “Because the U.S. doesn’t really have much power in these sanctions other than to tell the world that what the Chinese Communist Party is doing is inhumane and anti-human. So Biden didn’t want to give American journalists, American voters any promises that, look, we in the United States can change Beijing’s behavior, so he spoke rather vaguely.”
During the much-anticipated press conference, President Biden also spoke about North Korea. He said North Korea recently test-fired two missiles in violation of U.N. Resolution 1718 and that the Biden Administration is consulting with allies and that if the North Koreans choose to escalate the situation, the U.S. will respond accordingly. Biden also said he is prepared to engage in some form of diplomacy, but this must be contingent on the eventual outcome of denuclearization.
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