Joe Biden held his first presidential call with Xi Jinping on Wednesday, putting pressure on the Chinese leader on Beijing’s trade and crackdown on democracy activists in Hong Kong, as well as other human rights concerns.
The two leaders spoke just hours after Biden announced plans for a Pentagon task force to review US national security strategy in China and after the new president of the United States announced that he was imposing sanctions on Myanmar’s military regime after this month’s coup in the Southeast Asian country.
A White House statement said Biden raised concerns about Beijing’s “coercive and unfair economic practices.” Biden also pressured Xi on Hong Kong, human rights abuses against Uyghurs and ethnic minorities in western Xinjiang province and his actions toward Taiwan.
“I told him I would work with China when it benefits the American people,” Biden posted on Twitter after the call.
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV gave a mostly positive tone about the conversation, saying Xi acknowledged that the two sides had their differences and that those differences should be managed, but urged general cooperation.
CCTV said Xi backtracked on Biden’s concerns about Taiwan, Hong Kong and Xinjiang, saying the issues are China’s internal affairs and concern Chinese sovereignty. He warned: “The US should respect China’s basic interests and act with caution.”
Biden, who had dealt with the Chinese leader when he served as vice president of Barack Obama, used his first three weeks in the White House to make several calls with other leaders in the Indo-Pacific region. He has 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 affairs above all in the US-China relationship.
With Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga late last month, Biden stressed the U.S. commitment to protecting the Senkaku Islands, a group of uninhabited islets administered by Tokyo but claimed by Beijing. In his call with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Biden emphasized the need for “close cooperation to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific.” And in his call with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison last week, the president stressed that the alliance of the two nations was essential for stability in the region, the White House said.
Biden’s top aides have had repeated news of Asian and peaceful counterparts who had been discouraged by Trump’s frequently sharp rhetoric directed at the Allies, who spoke of lowering troop levels in South Korea and strange interactions with the Allies. North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, according to a senior administration official. who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private calls.
Allies in the region have made it clear they want a more determined and consistent approach to commitments in the future, according to the official.
To that end, Biden and other senior administration officials have taken care of their initial interactions with their counterparts to look at the long game in re-establishing relationships.
Biden used Wednesday’s call to raise concerns about Beijing’s crackdown on Hong Kong activists and its policies affecting Muslims and ethnic minorities in Xinjiang. In the last hours of the Trump administration, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared that the Chinese Communist Party had committed crimes against humanity against predominantly Muslim Uighurs 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 made clear his concern about Beijing’s increasingly “assertive” action with Taiwan. Beijing claims full sovereignty over Taiwan, even though the two sides have been ruled separately for more than seven decades.
Days after Biden’s presidency, China sent warplanes near the island. The U.S. Navy, in turn, last week sent a guided missile destroyer across the waterway separating China and Taiwan.
One area in which Biden does not seem willing to move quickly is the suspension of Trump’s trade war with China, which led to tariffs on its 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 from his nominated U.S. trade representative, Katherine Tai, and his secretary of commerce, Gina Raimondo. Both are expected to play a key role in helping shape China’s trade policy.
Administration officials say Biden also wants to consult with allies in Asia and Europe before making tariff decisions.
Biden and Xi know each other well and have had frank exchanges.
Biden hosted then-Chinese Vice President Xi during his 2012 visit to the United States. Biden used this visit to read Xi and was blunt at times, even raising concerns about the Chinese theft. of intellectual property and human rights abuses during a toast.
The following year, when Biden visited China, he publicly criticized Beijing for refusing to say it would renew the visas of American journalists and for blocking websites of U.S.-based news media sites.
Biden said he believes there are areas where the United States and China can work closely, such as tackling climate change and preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons. But ultimately, Biden said recently, he expects the US-China relationship to be of “extreme competition” in the coming years.
On Thursday, the Chinese state broadcaster said Xi told Biden, “You said that the most important feature of America is possibility. I hope that this kind of possibility will be developed in a way that is conducive to improving relations between the two countries “.
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Associated Press writer Huizhong Wu in Taipei, Taiwan, contributed to this report.