President Xi Jingping.
Getty Images
WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden said his government was ready for “extreme competition” with China, but that his approach would be different from that of his predecessor.
“I will not do it the way Trump did it. We will focus on international traffic rules,” Biden said in an interview with CBS published on Sunday.
“We don’t need conflict, but there will be extreme competition,” he added.
In his interview with CBS, Biden said he had not yet spoken to Chinese Xi Jinping since he ascended to the country’s highest position last month.
“I know him very well,” said Biden, explaining that, as vice president, he spent more time with Xi than any world leader. “He’s very smart and very tough and – I don’t mean that as a critic, it’s just a reality – he doesn’t have a … democratic bone in his body.”
Tension between Beijing and Washington, the two largest economies in the world, skyrocketed under the Trump administration. In the past four years, Trump has blamed China for a wide range of complaints, including intellectual property theft, unfair business practices and, recently, the coronavirus pandemic, which killed more than 460,000 Americans.
U.S. President Donald Trump (L) and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands at a news conference after their meeting outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
Artyom Ivanov | TASS | Getty Images
Last week, Biden said he would work more closely with the allies to mount a reaction against China.
“We are going to face China’s economic abuses,” explained Biden, describing Beijing as America’s “most serious competitor”.
“But we are also ready to work with Beijing when it is in America’s interest. We will compete in a position of strength, rebuilding better at home and working with our allies and partners,” the president told the State Department.
Although Biden has not yet spoken to Xi, Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke for the first time with his Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi, over the weekend.
In a tense call, Blinken told Yang that the United States would hold China accountable for its actions, especially with regard to Taiwan. He also called on Beijing to condemn the recent military coup in Myanmar.
During his Senate confirmation hearing, Blinken told lawmakers that Trump “was right to take a tougher approach to China”.
“I strongly disagree with the way he did this in several areas, but the basic principle was right and I think this is really useful for our foreign policy,” said Blinken the day before Biden’s inauguration.