According to US President Joe Biden his first phone call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping lasted for 2 hours.
As per Joe Biden’s statement if the United States doesn’t “get moving” on China policy, ‘they’re going to eat our lunch’.
The US President challenged Xi Jinping on human rights, trade and regional muscle-flexing during the call; this was done to set the tone for the US-China relationship.
China has already tested US ties after Xi Jinping came to power, and under former president Donald Trump found itself on the receiving end of trade tariffs as relations frayed.
Joe Biden is under pressure to maintain Trump’s stance and he met Xi Jinping during his time as vice president under Barack Obama.
The White House made this announcement that the US President underscored his fundamental concerns about Beijing’s coercive and unfair economic practices, crackdown in Hong Kong, human rights abuses in Xinjiang, as well as increasingly assertive actions in the region, including toward Taiwan.
Both the leaders also spoke about the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change and weapons proliferation.
