President Joe Biden has received mixed responses from Congress over his virtual meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, with several Republican lawmakers calling the president out for not pressing Xi on Beijing’s various aggressions.
Biden and Xi on Nov. 15 talked for about three and a half hours in their first-ever virtual summit, focusing on issues that included Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea, and Taiwan. According to the White House, Biden raised concerns about China’s human rights violations and unfair trade and economic practices.
Some Republican lawmakers issued statements criticizing Biden for failing to do more at the summit.
Scott added: “Time and time again, Biden does the bare minimum when it comes to dealing with China and it’s absolutely unacceptable. He refused to confront General Secretary Xi about his military’s endless harassment of Taiwan, one of our most important partners in the Asia-Pacific.”
According to the White House, Biden told Xi that the United States remains “committed to the ‘One China’ policy, guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, the three Joint Communiques, and the Six Assurances.” Biden also voiced opposition against “unilateral efforts to change the status quo or undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”
According to China’s state-run media, Xi warned Biden that China “will have to take decisive measures” if so-called Taiwan independence forces “cross the red line.”
“This meeting between President Biden and President Xi Jinping was a missed opportunity to reassert the United States’ strength and will on the global stage,” Wittman stated.
He added: “To be clear: President Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party are not friends of the United States. The CCP poses a clear and real threat to our nation, one that must be taken seriously.”
Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, warned the Biden administration about working with the CCP.
Risch added that if Xi wants a “cooperative relationship” with the United States, he must “stop threatening Taiwan, economically coercing and punishing other countries, and perpetrating egregious human rights abuses, including genocide against Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang.”
Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) took to Twitter to express their support for Biden and the summit.