Biden Claims “No New Cold War” With China
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
DENPASAR, INDONESIA (Worthy News) – U.S. President Joe Biden pledged Monday there would be no “new Cold War” with China after meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping, though both sides offered different views on their talks.
Biden also said he did not believe China would invade Taiwan, despite Beijing not making that guarantee. It was the first in-person meeting between the two superpower leaders since Biden took office.
The pair also discussed North Korea and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at the talks in Bali, a day before the Group of 20 (G20) summit on the Indonesian island.
Biden, and his Chinese counterpart, Xi, agreed that a nuclear war “should never be fought,” the White House claimed in a statement monitored by Worthy News.
Yet Beijing’s readout from the long-awaited meeting in Bali differed slightly and did not mention the pair agreeing on opposing Russia’s threat of using nuclear weapons in the war.
And it became clear that both nations will compete for who will remain, or become, the world’s leading superpower in the coming years.
Biden stressed that the United States would “continue to compete vigorously” with Communist-run China, “including by investing in sources of strength at home and aligning efforts with allies and partners around the world,” the White House said.
NO CONFLICT?
“He reiterated that this competition should not veer into conflict and underscored that the United States and China must manage the competition responsibly and maintain open lines of communication. The two leaders discussed the importance of developing principles that would advance these goals and tasked their teams to discuss them further,” the White House added.
The remarks underscored concerns of a possible military escalation in and around the Taiwan Strait involving the U.S. and China after Biden said in September that Washington would defend democratically-run Taiwan if attacked by China.
Beijing views Taiwan as part of China and has not ruled out using force against the island.
Asked by reporters whether he believed a new Cold War was brewing, Biden stressed: “I absolutely believe there need not be a new Cold War. I have met many times with Xi Jinping, and we were candid and clear with one another across the board. I do not think there is any imminent attempt on the part of China to invade Taiwan.”
Additionally, President Biden also raised concerns about reported violations of human rights by China, including in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong, the White House said.
It was unclear whether Biden had raised the issues of individual Christians and churches who reportedly face increased persecution under Xi’s leadership.
WORLD STABILITY
Several rights groups hope the United States will pressure Beijing to improve the plight of devoted Chinese Christians.
There have been numerous church raids by Communist authorities, and several believers have been jailed, including for involvement in house churches.
But on Monday, Biden and Xi tried to show the rest of the world that they knew that global stability rested on relations between their two countries and that they would act responsibly.
However, Xi also warned that “we need to chart the right course for the China-U.S. relationship,” given that “the world has come to a crossroads.”
Later in the Chinese readout, Xi said that “China-US relations should not be a zero-sum game in which you rise, and I fall… the wide Earth is fully capable of accommodating the development and common prosperity of China and the United States”.
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