US President Joe Biden, in his first phone call with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, spoke about the fundamental concerns he has with Beijing’s coercive and unfair economic practices, the White House press secretary said Thursday. , Jen Psaki, one day after the two hour conversation. between the two leaders.
Biden wants to lead with a clear and compelling affirmative US political agenda and take action to strengthen the US economy, he said.
“He wants to work with our partners and allies, as you have seen in our readings of the president’s commitment. He wants to take action throughout the government … ”Psaki told reporters at his daily press conference.
“He is also committed to being clear and sincere in his commitments, as he was last night in… his long conversation with President Xi, where he spoke about the fundamental concerns that he has, we have, about Beijing’s coercive and unfair economic practices. . That obviously covers a variety of concerns, a variety of issues: the repression in Hong Kong, the abuse of human rights throughout the country, increasingly assertive actions in the region, even towards Taiwan, ”Psaki said.
President Biden, he said, has clear eyes on the challenge facing the United States: that is strategic competition with China. “To be in our best position in that competition, we must take steps here at home, including making our own workforce more competitive, making sure we are taking steps to protect our own technology, making sure that… we are working with our partners and allies to do that, ”he said.
“It is a reflection of our strategy, which is that we are going to put our house in order to enter that competition with the strongest possible base,” he said.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said the Biden Administration will engage with the Chinese when consistent with American interests and values.
“Although we view this relationship through the lens of competition and our general stance vis-à-vis China is to work to position ourselves to compete with and outperform the Chinese in any number of areas,” he said.
In response to questions, Price said the United States is still in the early stages of its engagement with the Chinese. “I hasten to add that that initial engagement at the level of the Secretary of State and the President of the United States came only after a series of calls with our closest allies and partners. There is a reason why these commitments were not carried out on the first day, ”he explained.
“We wanted to ensure that we coordinated closely with our allies, including our allies in Europe and our treaty allies in the Indo-Pacific, but also with our partners, including our partners throughout the Indo-Pacific, to make it clear that our approach Beijing was known to them, that we coordinated on that, and that, again, we positioned ourselves in the strongest possible position vis-à-vis China, “Price said when asked about the delay in talks with the Chinese president.
“When we talk about our strength in the context of our relationship with China, we derive strength from our values. We draw strength from our alliances, our partnerships. We also draw strength from what we do here at home, ”he said. At the Pentagon, the head of the China Task Force, Ely Ratner, told reporters that the Defense Department has increasingly focused on China’s challenge.
“There has been a proliferation of policies, activities and initiatives related to China, and the purpose of the working group was, particularly with the new team that joined, a new Secretary, to ensure that those activities were synchronized, prioritized and coordinated in the as much as possible, ”he said.
A day after being appointed in charge of the China Task Force, Ratner said the goal is not to boil the ocean. “What we are going to do here is try to identify the most important challenges and opportunities for the secretary (of Defense), try to identify what should be the main priorities for him and his team in China, whether they are issues that need secretarial decisions. of level or orientation, problems that need greater prioritization, attention and resources, or problems that need strength and / or new processes to move forward and address them, ”he said.
Republican Senator Rick Scott, in a statement, alleged that Biden is rolling back actions taken under President Trump to hold communist China accountable and that such a move is reckless and shows how far he will go to appease the authoritarian regime.
“Failure to stand up to Secretary General Xi has absolutely devastating consequences for our national security and that of our allies. We don’t need good phone calls or another task force to study what is happening with communist China, ”he said.
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