Vinayak Barot
New Delhi: US President Joe Biden, in a first news conference after taking office on January 20, targeted China for its aggressive behavior, announcing that “China will not surpass the US as global leader.”
“The US will prevent China from passing the United States to become the most powerful country in the world,” he declared on Thursday.
Biden said he had made it clear to Chinese President Xi Jinping that the US was not looking for a confrontation, but would insist China abide by international rules for fair competition, fair trade and respect for human rights.
The US President said he had spent “hours upon hours” with Jinping when he served as Vice President under former President Barack Obama.
“China has an overall goal to become the leading country in the world, the wealthiest country in the world, and the most powerful country in the world, but it is not going to happen on my watch because the United States is going to continue to grow,” Biden said.
On democracy and autocracy, he said “Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin think that autocracy is the wave of the future, (and) democracy cannot function in an ever-complex world.”
Biden’s aggressive statement came after Jinping’s meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un and his ballistic missile tests.
Political experts said that China is giving a tough challenge to the US on international stages. Its rising power could be a huge challenge for the US and other countries like India, Japan, South Korea, and Australia in the future.
“Biden’s strong message to the Beijing government shows the US will not remain silent if China tried to disrupt peace anywhere,” experts added.