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Joe Biden held his first president call with Xi Jinping on Wednesday, pressuring the Chinese leader over Beijing’s trade and crackdown on democracy activists in Hong Kong as well as other rights concerns humans.
The two leaders spoke just hours after Biden announced plans to create a Pentagon task force to review US national security strategy in China and after the new US president announced he was imposing sanctions on Myanmar’s military regime following this month’s coup d’état in the Southeast Asian country.
A White House statement said Biden raised concerns about “Beijing’s coercive and unfair economic practices.” Biden also pressed Xi on Hong Kong, human rights violations against Uyghurs and ethnic minorities in western Xinjiang province, and his actions toward Taiwan.
“I told him I will work with China when it benefits the American people,” Biden posted on Twitter after the call.
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV set a rather positive tone to the conversation, saying Xi recognizes that the two sides have their differences and that these differences need to be addressed, but urged for comprehensive cooperation.
CCTV said Xi brushed off Biden’s concerns in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Xinjiang, saying the issues were China’s internal affairs and concerned Chinese sovereignty. He warned, “The United States should respect China’s fundamental interests and act with caution.”
Biden, who had dealt with the Chinese leader when he was Barack Obama’s vice president, used his first three weeks in the White House to make several calls with other leaders in the Indo-Pacific region. He tried to send the message that he would take a radically different approach to China than former President Donald Trump, who placed trade and economic issues above all in US-China relations.
With Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga at the end of last month, Biden underscored the US commitment to protect the Senkaku Islands, a group of uninhabited islets administered by Tokyo but claimed by Beijing. In his appeal with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Biden stressed the need for “close cooperation to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific”. And during his call with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison last week, the president stressed that the two-nation alliance is essential to stability in the region, the White House said.
Key Biden aides have repeatedly heard from Asia-Pacific counterparts discouraged by Trump’s often-cutting rhetoric targeting allies, talk about the downsizing of troops in South Korea and the bizarre interactions with the North dictator. Korean Kim Jong Un, according to a senior administration official. who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private calls.
Allies in the region have made it clear that they want a more determined and regular approach to engagements going forward, the official said.
To that end, Biden and other senior administration officials were careful, in their initial interactions with their counterparts, to look to the long game to reset relationships.
Biden used Wednesday’s call to voice concerns about Beijing’s crackdown on activists in Hong Kong and its policies affecting Muslims and ethnic minorities in Xinjiang. In the final hours of the Trump administration, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the Chinese Communist Party had committed crimes against humanity against majority Muslim Uyghurs and other minority groups.
China has denied any abuse and says the measures it has taken are necessary to fight terrorism and a separatist movement.
The White House also said Biden had made clear his concern over Beijing’s increasingly “assertive” action with Taiwan. Beijing claims full sovereignty over Taiwan, even though the two sides have been governed separately for more than seven decades.
Within days of Biden’s presidency, China sent fighter jets near the island. The US Navy, in turn, sent a guided missile destroyer across the waterway between China and Taiwan last week.
One area Biden doesn’t seem ready to act on quickly is the end of Trump’s trade war with China, which has led to tariffs on steel, aluminum and other products.
Biden plans to leave tariffs in place as his administration conducts a top-down review of trade policy. Administration officials note that the president is still awaiting confirmation of the appointment of his U.S. trade representative, Katherine Tai, and her choice for commerce secretary, Gina Raimondo. Both are expected to play a key role in shaping China’s trade policy.
Administration officials say Biden also wants to consult with his allies in Asia and Europe before making tariff decisions.
Biden and Xi know each other well and had an open exchange.
Biden welcomed then Chinese Vice President Xi during his 2012 visit to the United States. Biden used the visit to have a read from Xi and was blunt at times, even raising concerns about Chinese intellectual property theft and human rights violations during a lunch toast.
The following year, when Biden visited China, he publicly criticized Beijing for refusing to say it would renew visas for American journalists and for blocking the websites of US-based news media sites. United States.
Biden said he believes there are areas where the United States and China can work closely together, such as addressing climate change and preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons. But ultimately, Biden said recently, he expects the US-China relationship to be “extreme competition” in the years to come.
The Chinese state broadcaster on Thursday said Xi told Biden, “You said America’s biggest feature is possibility. I hope that this type of possibility will develop in a way conducive to improving relations between the two countries.
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Associated Press writer Huizhong Wu of Taipei, Taiwan, contributed to this report.
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