America & its allies to hold Beijing accountable on Taiwan, South China Sea and other issues: Joe Biden

United States President Joe Biden disclosed he had made it clear to China that the US is not looking for confrontation, although there will be steep competition.

 

Biden said he had a two-hour conversation with Chinese president Xi Jinping after he assumed office and asserted that China must play by the international rules and honour fair competition. He repeated that he thinks that Xi does not have a democratic bone in his body and asserted that US and its allies will hold Beijing accountable on Taiwan, South China Sea and other issues.

 

He also added that the US will never back down from speaking out about what is happening to Uighur Muslims in China and what is happening in Hong Kong.

 

Biden said that China's overall goal is to become the leading country in the world, but asserted it won't happen under his



watch.

 

President Biden yesterday held his first press conference since assuming office and made an ambitious pledge of administering 200 million vaccine shots in 100 days. The US is the worst-hit country in the world from Covid-19, with the highest number of cases and deaths.

 

Biden said there will be responses to North Korea if they choose to escalate their nuclear programme. He said the US is consulting with its partner and allies on North Korea, saying that the country is the top foreign policy for him.

 

On Afghanistan, Biden said in terms of tactical reasons, it is hard to get US troops out and it is going to be hard to meet the May 1 deadline. He said, it is not the intention of the US to stay in Afghanistan for a long time but the question is how and under what circumstances to meet that agreement that was made by former President Trump.