TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
China calls for 'better angels' to prevail in reset with Biden
Beijing also said it welcomed news that the US would re-join the World Health Organization and the Paris climate accord, as Biden tried to immediately pivot his office back to a key role in global leadership.
Change Size
US Vice President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping toast during a State Luncheon for China hosted by US Secretary of State John Kerry on September 25, 2015 at the Department of State in Washington, DC. (Agence France Presse/Paul J. Richards)
C
hina on Thursday congratulated President Joe Biden on his inauguration and called for a reset in relations between Beijing and Washington, as the new administration brought an end to the fractious term of Donald Trump.
Beijing also said it welcomed news that the US would re-join the World Health Organization and the Paris climate accord, as Biden tried to immediately pivot his office back to a key role in global leadership.
The new US president is expected to remain tough on China but commit to international cooperation after Trump's divisive "America First" approach.
"With cooperation from both sides, the better angels in China-US relations will beat the evil forces," foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a press briefing.
She said Biden had used the word "unity" several times in his inauguration speech, and that it was "precisely what is needed currently in US-China relations".
Under Trump, tensions with China plunged to a nadir over trade, security, technology, the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic and human rights.
In a final dig at the Trump administration, Beijing said Wednesday it was sanctioning more than two dozen members and ex-officials in the former president’s government, including his secretary of state Mike Pompeo.
The officials and their family members will be prohibited from entering mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, the foreign ministry said.
"Over the past few years the Trump administration, especially Pompeo, has buried too many mines in US-China relations that need to be eliminated, burned too many bridges that need to be built, and destroyed too many roads that need to be repaired," said Hua on Thursday.
