Chinese officials tried to set new rules for President Biden’s administration by drawing a “red line” around issues such as China’s human rights abuses and Taiwan, but U.S. officials aren’t having it.
“We would respond by saying we urge Beijing to cease its military, diplomatic, and economic pressure against Taiwan and, instead, engage in meaningful dialogue with Taiwan’s democratically elected leadership,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters Tuesday.
Chinese Politburo member Yang Jiechi tried to forestall such rebukes in the regime’s most significant address to the United States since Biden took office. He offered the prospect of cooperating with U.S. officials on “following a new development philosophy” to mitigate climate change but prefaced that gesture with a warning about Beijing’s determination to consolidate power in Taiwan and other areas where it claims sovereignty.
“The United States should stop interference in the affairs of Hong Kong, Tibet, and Xinjiang, which all matter to China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and stop attempts to hold back China’s development by meddling in China’s internal affairs,” the Politburo member told the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations in a Monday speech. “They constitute a red line that must not be crossed.”
Price, in his first convocation of the State Department press corps for a regular briefing, a once daily ritual that lapsed during Donald Trump’s presidency, made a point to disrespect that demand.
“China has engaged in gross human rights violations that shock the conscience,” he said.
Price affirmed that “strategic competition” would organize the Biden team’s approach to Beijing.
“We see it through the lens of competition and positioning ourselves to compete and ultimately to outcompete with the Chinese through our own sources of strength,” he said.
“We understand, too, that there are going to be issues … in which it is in our national interest to cooperate on a limited basis with China; climate is going to be one of them,” Price continued. “We can walk and chew gum at the same time.”
