US President Joe Biden has said he is looking for competition and not conflict with China. Biden is likely to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia, later this month.
During the meeting, Biden told reporters in Washington on Wednesday, the two leaders are expected to talk to each other about their national interests and the “red line”.
“I’ve met with him many times. And I’ve told him I’m looking for competition, not conflict. So, what I want to do with him when we talk is lay out what kind of each of our red lines are, understand what he believes to be in the critical national interests of China, what I know to be the critical interests of the United States and to determine whether or not they conflict with one another,” he said in response to a question.
“And if they do, how do we resolve it and how to work it out. The Taiwan doctrine has not changed at all from the very beginning, the very beginning. So, I’m sure we’ll discuss a number of other issues, including fair trade and relationships relating to his relationship with other countries in the region,” the US President said.
In response to another question, Biden said he does not think there is a lot of respect that China has for Russia or for its President Vladimir Putin.
“I don’t think they look at that as a particular alliance. Matter of fact, they’ve been sort of keeping their distance a little bit. I do think that it remains to be seen whether Xi Jinping has decided that, or backed off of his initial judgment, that he wanted China to have the most powerful military in the world as well as the largest economy,” he said.
“But he’s a long way from both. I think talk about nuclear weapons and location, a number of them, and access is important to discuss,” Biden said.
