User:Rjensen/sandbox/China1

Biden has criticized the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) for being "deeply authoritarian".[1] "stealing over 1 million" manufacturing jobs from Americans,[2] breaking international trade regulations,[3] unfairly subsidizing Chinese corporations, and stealing intellectual property from U.S. firms and discriminating against them.[3] Tariffs imposed by Trump on the PRC will remain in place.[4] Biden said he had spent more time in private meetings with Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping than any other world leader.[5] He has criticized Xi as "a guy who doesn’t have a democratic — with a small d — bone in his body. This is a guy who is a thug."[6][7] Janet Yellen said the administration would use the United States' "full array of tools" against "abusive" PRC practices.[8] Antony Blinken, crediting the Trump administration's hawkish approach,[9] characterized the PRC as a "Techno-Autocracy" which seeks world dominance. Blinken indicated a desire to welcome political refugees from Hong Kong. He furthermore stated that Biden administration's commitment to Taiwan's defense would "absolutely endure", and that a PRC attack on the island Republic of China (Taiwan) "would be a grievous mistake on their part".[10] The representative of Taiwan in the United States Hsiao Bi-khim (the country's de facto ambassador) was invited to attend Biden's presidential inauguration, becoming the first Taiwanese representative to attend a U.S. presidential ceremony.[11][12]

On January 20, 2021, around the time of the inauguration of Biden, PRC government announced sanctions against Mike Pompeo and 27 other former officials who worked under the Trump presidency. A spokesperson for Biden's National Security Council called the sanctions "unproductive and cynical."[13] This comes after Pompeo, who was Secretary of State under Donald Trump, formally declared that China is committing a genocide against the Uyghurs, which the Biden campaign had previously said half a year prior in a statement in August 2020.[14] During his nomination hearing, Biden endorsed Pompeo's report that China is committing a genocide against Uyghur Muslims, reaffirming Biden's campaign stance.[15]

The Biden administration took a tough stance on China, with Blinken and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines advocating an assertive U.S. approach.[12] The Biden administration rejected China's territorial and maritime claims in the South China Sea that violate international law, and pledged to back Southeastern Asian nations on territorial disputes.[16][17] The administration also condemned Chinese incursions into Taiwan's air defense zone.[12] In February 2021, the administration called upon the Chinese government and the World Health Organization to release data about the origin of COVID-19; China had refused to grant WHO investigators access to the raw data on early cases of the virus.[18] The British government backed Biden's call for transparency.[18]

Biden held his first telephone call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on February 10, 2021; during the call, Biden raised issues of "Beijing's coercive and unfair economic practices" as well as the government's "crackdown in Hong Kong, human rights abuses in Xinjiang, and increasingly assertive actions in the region, including toward Taiwan"; the conversation also involved the COVID-19 pandemic and "shared challenges of global health security, climate change and preventing weapons proliferation."[19][20]

In late February 2021, Biden ordered the government to undertake a 100-day supply chain review, examining sourcing vulnerabilities for key components (such as semiconductors, rare earth minerals, and certain batteries) used in important goods (such as computers, electric vehicles, pharmaceuticals, personal protective equipment, and military equipment), including vulnerabilities from "strategic competitor nations." Biden stated that the review would assess how to avoid having the U.S. "rely on a foreign country, especially one that doesn't share our interests or our values, in order to protect and provide for our people during a national emergency." The review was part of a broader competition between the U.S. and China for global economic influence.[21][22]

The first high-level talks between the Biden administration and China were held in Anchorage, Alaska on March 19, 2021. Participants included secretary of state Tony Blinken and national security advisor Jake Sullivan from the U.S. side, and the Chinese Communist Party Politburo member and highest-ranking diplomat Yang Jiechi and foreign minister Wang Yi from the Chinese side. The public meeting was contentious, with heated exchanges on China's human rights abuses, cyberattacks, its threats against Taiwan, its crackdown in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, and other issues of U.S. interest. The Chinese side countered that the U.S. "does not have the qualification... to speak to China from a position of strength", that the U.S. does not serve as a model to others, and that China's "development and strengthening is unstoppable".[23][24] China also accused the U.S. of "incit[ing] some countries to attack China," while the U.S. said China had "arrived intent on grandstanding, focused on public theatrics and dramatics over substance."[25][26] In the week ahead of the talks, the administration met with U.S. allies in Asia and imposed sanctions on senior Chinese officials.[23]

In April 2021, it was reported that the Biden administration was rallying U.S. allies in consideration of a boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. The U.S. Department of State spokesman Ned Price told reporters that a joint boycott "is something that we certainly wish to discuss".[27]