HIROSHIMA, Japan - US President Joe Biden on Sunday said the Group of Seven (G-7) nations had agreed on a united approach to China that called for diversifying supply chains to reduce dependence on one country, and hinted that he could speak with the Chinese President soon.
“We’re not looking to decouple from China. We’re looking to de-risk and diversify our relationship with China,” Mr Biden told a press conference, adding that the G-7 nations were more unified than ever in terms of “resisting economic coercion together and countering harmful practices that hurt our workers”.
G-7 leaders had also outlined a shared approach to “de-risk, not decouple” economic engagement with China in a Saturday communique, prompting China’s embassy in Japan to urged the G-7 to stop creating confrontation and division.
The US President, speaking after a three-day meeting of G-7 leaders, said he expected a thaw in frosty relations with China “very shortly”, after strains caused by an incident earlier in 2023 when the United States shot down a Chinese balloon that flew over sensitive military sites.
“We should have an open hotline,” Mr Biden said. He said he had agreed with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a Group of 20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, in 2022 to keep communications open, but everything changed after “this silly balloon that was carrying two freight cars worth of spying equipment”.
Mr Biden suggested a shift in US-China relations could occur soon, echoing his comment to reporters before his departure.
“In terms of talking with them, I think you’re going to see that thaw very shortly,” he said.
On the issue of tensions between China and Taiwan, Mr Biden said there was a clear understanding among most of the allies that if China were to act unilaterally against Taiwan, there would be a response.
“We’re not going to tell China what they can do,” he said, “But in the meantime, we’re going to put Taiwan in a position where they can defend themselves.”
Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen vowed on Saturday to maintain the status quo of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait amid high tensions with China, which has stepped up military pressure on the democratically governed island.
Mr Biden reiterated that the US and its G-7 allies would not trade in materials that would allow China to build weapons of mass destruction, but that was “not a hostile act”.
He said he would not consider easing restrictions on China on those materials, but it was under negotiation whether to ease sanctions on Chinese general Li Shangfu, who was named in March as China’s new defence minister.
Mr Li has been under US sanctions since 2018 over the purchase of combat aircraft and equipment from Russia’s main arms exporter. REUTERS
