WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden says China faces “extreme competition” from the US under his administration, but the new relationship he wants to forge does not have to be conflict.
In an interview broadcast on Sunday, Biden acknowledged that he has not spoken to Chinese President Xi Jinping since his inauguration on Jan. 20, but noted that the two leaders had often met when both men served their country as vice president.
“I know him pretty well,” Biden said in an excerpt from the interview aired Sunday on CBS ‘Face the Nation.
When they speak, they will “have a lot to talk about,” Biden said.
Biden appears to be focusing his initial phone diplomacy on US allies. He has spoken so far with the leaders of Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Australia and the Secretary General of NATO.
He also worked in a conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In the interview, Biden described Xi as “very smart” and “very tough,” but without “a democratic little D bone in his body.”
Shortly after Biden succeeded President Donald Trump in the White House, a Chinese State Department spokesman said that “after this very difficult and extraordinary time, both the Chinese and the American people deserve a better future.” Beijing welcomed the Biden government’s decision to stay in the World Health Organization and return to the Paris Climate Agreement.
However, the new administration is unlikely to significantly change US trade policy, Taiwan, human rights and the South China Sea, which have angered Xi’s increasingly assertive government.
Biden said in the interview that Friday was filmed against Xi “all the while we don’t have to have a conflict.” But, Biden added, there will be “extreme competition. And I’m not going to do it like he knows. And that’s because it also sends out signals. “
Biden said he will not pursue US-China relations like Trump did, but will focus on “ international rules of the road. ”