The telegraph
Joe Biden presses Xi Jinping on ‘abuses in Xinjiang’ in first call with Chinese leader
Joe Biden clashed with Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, about the treatment of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan in his first call since Biden came to power. Biden said on Thursday that he talked to his Chinese counterpart for two hours on Wednesday night. “If we don’t move, they’ll eat our lunch,” Biden told reporters. Wednesday’s call was also the first between Xi and a U.S. president since the Chinese leader spoke to former President Donald Trump in March last year. Since then, relations between the two countries have become the worst in recent decades. Biden told Xi that it was a US priority to preserve a free and open Indo-Pacific region and “underscored his fundamental concerns about Beijing’s coercive and unfair economic practices, repression in Hong Kong, human rights abuses in Xinjiang and ever-increasing actions. more assertive in the region, including towards Taiwan, “the White House said in a statement. President Xi stepped back, warning that Taiwan, Hong Kong and Xinjiang – home to persecuted Uighur Muslims – were “China’s internal affairs and concern China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and the US side must respect China’s central interests and act with caution, “the foreign ministry said. Mr. Xi emphasized that China and the United States can do a lot for their mutual benefit when working together, while the confrontation “will definitely be disastrous for both countries and the world,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement Thursday. -market. Despite the differences, the Chinese leader gave a positive tone, expressing hope for better relations between the two sides. “You said that America can be defined in one word: possibilities. We hope that the possibilities now point to an improvement in China-US relations, ”said the Foreign Minister, citing Xi. He also said that China and the United States could have in-depth communications on matters relating to their relationship and the main international and regional issues, and that their military, economic, financial and police authorities “can also have more contacts”. The White House said Biden and Xi also exchanged views on combating the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as on the common challenges of climate change and preventing the proliferation of weapons – a reference to the US’s desire to cooperate with Beijing to persuade North Korea giving up its nuclear weapons. A senior Biden government official told reporters ahead of the call that Biden would be “practical, stubborn and insightful” in negotiations with Xi, but he wanted to ensure that the two leaders had the opportunity to have an open line of communication. despite US concerns about Chinese behavior.