President Joe Biden said he had no intention of trying to contain or isolate China, even as he asserted that the country’s economic problems had diminished its capacity to invade Taiwan.
“I don’t want to contain China, I just want to make sure that we have a relationship with China, that is on the up and up, squared away, everybody knows what it’s all about,” Biden said Sunday during a press conference in Hanoi, Vietnam.
The US president, who traveled to Vietnam on Sunday following a gathering of Group of 20 in India, said he had met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang while at the summit. Pressed on why he hasn’t met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in 10 months, Biden said Xi “has his hands full right now.” The Chinese president opted not to attend the G-20.
Biden said China “has a difficult economic problem right now for a whole range of reasons that relate to international growth and lack thereof, and the policies that China has followed.”
“I don’t think it’s going to cause China to invade Taiwan, in fact maybe the opposite, probably doesn’t have the same capacity as it had before,” he added.
The US president also addressed growing tensions between the world’s two largest economies over their technological ambitions. China is seeking to ban the use of iPhones for state-owned enterprises — representing a blow to Apple Inc. and broadening previously announced restrictions that only targeted government agencies.
“I’m not going to sell China, material that would increase their capacity to make more nuclear weapons or engage in defense activities that are contrary to what is viewed as most people’s think was a positive development in the region,” he said.
Huawei Technologies Co. also recently quietly revealed a mobile phone utilizing technology the US has sought to keep out of Beijing’s hands, questioning the efficacy of US chip restrictions.
The developments, which came just as Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo was wrapping up a trip to Beijing and as Biden was preparing to leave for the Group of 20 leaders’ summit in New Delhi, could derail recent efforts by the US to thaw relations between the two countries.
--With assistance from Justin Sink and Jordan Fabian.
