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| US President Joe Biden is waving his hand as he climbs into Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on the 5th. © AFP=News1 |
US President Joe Biden reaffirmed his strong attitude toward China and Iran.
According to the Washington Post (WP) on the 7th (local time), President Biden told CBS that he would not approach China in the same way as the former administration of Donald Trump. However, he said China is far from democracy and that there will be intense competition.
President Biden said, “I will not deal with the relationship between the United States and China as President Trump did.” President Biden told Xi, “very clever and tough,” and said, “Si is not democratic at all, but he is not criticizing him. It is just reality.”
President Biden said, “I always told President Xi we don’t need to conflict,” he said, “but there will be extreme competition.”
“We’re not going to do it the way former President Trump did, because Xi is sending a signal,” said President Biden. “We will focus on the means of international rule.”
President Biden’s remarks are not in the same way as the Trump administration, but they seem to suggest that China could create conflict in many areas, including trade and human rights.
Earlier, U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blincoln pressed China to defend human rights and democracy in Tibet, Hong Kong and Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Regions in his first call with the Chinese Communist Party diplomat politician Yang Jietsu.
Meanwhile, President Biden mentioned in an interview that he had a long relationship with President Xi while serving as vice president during the Barack Obama administration.
President Biden said, “I spent 24 hours and 25 hours alone with President Xi during his time as Vice President, so I spent more time than any other world leader. I traveled 1700 miles with President Xi and I know him quite well.”
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| Iranian President Hassan Rohany attended a state council meeting in Tehran on the 3rd (local time) and announced that there will be no further negotiations over the Iranian nuclear agreement (JCPOA, comprehensive joint action plan) signed with the United States. © AFP=News1 © News1 Reporter Dongmyeong Woo |
President Biden also said he would refuse to lift sanctions until Iran promises to stop enriching uranium.
President Biden replied “No” to the question that he would drop sanctions against Iran.
President Biden nodded slowly in affirmation when asked, “Should Iran stop enriching uranium?” It seems to mean that it will reject Iran’s demand to revive the 2015 international nuclear agreement.
In April 2015, Iran agreed on a Comprehensive Joint Action Plan (JCPOA) to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue with P5+1 (the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia plus five nuclear countries + Germany). The key point of the agreement is to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons in return for easing sanctions.
However, in 2018, former U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally declared the destruction of the nuclear agreement, restoring most of the sanctions against Iran. Iran also reduced the scope of its implementation of the terms of the nuclear agreement from May 2019.
President Biden has long said that the lifting of sanctions lies in Iran. As a candidate, President Biden promised that if Iran ceased nuclear activities that violated the agreement, the United States would participate again.
The Iranian parliament has set a deadline by February 21st to withdraw sanctions during the Trump administration or suspend international inspections of some Iranian facilities. The Biden administration is under pressure from European allies to rejoin the agreement, but does not set any deadlines.