President Joe Biden maintains that he wants to see a strong China and is not trying to “contain” its growth.
Speaking at a press conference in Hanoi, Vietnam, Biden was asked about accusations from Chinese president Xi Jinping that he wants to contain the country as Biden builds allies in the region.
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Biden said that is not the case.
“What this trip was about — it was less about containing China. I don’t want to contain China,” he said. “I just want to make sure we have a relationship with China that is on the up and up, squared away.”‘
One issue that was mentioned in the question and in Biden’s answer is China’s move to ban iPhones among its central government agencies. Several state governments in the United States previously banned the Chinese social media app TikTok on devices used for official duties.
Biden visited India and Vietnam this week for G20 meetings with several world leaders, though not Xi or Russian president Vladimir Putin, and recently held meetings with the leaders of South Korea and Japan. He acknowledged the need to build relationships with other nations but emphasized that the goal is to “strengthen alliances around the world to maintain stability.”
“That’s what this trip was all about,” Biden said, “having India cooperate much more with the U.S., be closer to the U.S., Vietnam being closer with the U.S.”
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The president has said as much to his Chinese counterpart.
“When I was spending a lot of time talking with President Xi, he asked why was I going to [meet with] the quad — Australia, India, Japan, the United States — I said to maintain stability,” Biden said. “It’s not about isolating China.”
