President Joe Biden spoke with Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping on Thursday, but the readout does not mention the coronavirus.
The White House readout of the call was heavily diplomatic, noting the two leaders had a “broad, strategic discussion” about “areas where our interests converge” and “where our interests, values, and perspectives diverge.”
But there was no readout message about the fight against the coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China:
Inside the P4 laboratory in Wuhan, the Chinese biosafety laboratory accused by senior US officials of being at the origin of the coronavirus pandemic (Johannes EISELE/AFP).
Biden spoke about his ongoing effort “to responsibly manage the competition” between the two countries, according to the White House.
“President Biden underscored the United States’ enduring interest in peace, stability, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific and the world and the two leaders discussed the responsibility of both nations to ensure competition does not veer into conflict,” the readout of the call concluded.
Chinese state media reported that Biden requested the call and that Xi told Biden policies of the United States “have caused serious difficulties in bilateral relations” between the two countries.
“When China and the US cooperate, the two countries and the world will benefit; when China and the United States are in confrontation, the two countries and the world will suffer,” Xi said, according to the Global Times.
Since Biden became president, his relationship with Xi has been at the forefront of his mind.
“When I won, he called me to congratulate me. We spent two hours and, I think, almost 25 minutes on the phone,” Biden said during a virtual fundraiser in August.
Biden’s obsession is that dictators and oligarchs believe their countries are able to lead the world better than democracies such as the United States.
In July, Biden praised Xi during a CNN town hall:
“I talked to Xi Jinping in China, who I know well. We don’t agree on a lot of things,” he said. “He’s a bright and really tough guy.”
Biden asserts that Republicans and Democrats should unite and pass his massive spending agenda to prove to the world the United States can act.
“These guys actually are betting — betting — I’m not joking — on autocracies,” Biden said. “Democracy has to stand up and demonstrate it can get something done.”