Biden Planning 'Alliance of Democracies' Meeting to Address China Issues

President Joe Biden plans to continue to address Chinese human rights violations and unfair trade practices, and soon will host an “alliance of democracies” to discuss how to better hold China accountable, he told reporters March 25. Speaking during his first formal news conference as president, Biden didn’t say when the meeting with allies will take place but said he will push partners to make China “follow the rules.”

Biden won’t use the meeting with allies to make decisions on sanctions and other trade restrictions, but just to “make sure we’re all on the same page” and to “reestablish” U.S. alliances. “We have to have democracies working together,” Biden said. “And as long as [China] continues to completely violate human rights, we are going to continue, in an unrelenting way, to call for the attention of the world and make it clear what's happening.”

Biden said he has told Chinese President Xi Jinping “on several occasions” that the U.S. isn’t “looking for confrontation, although we know there will be steep, steep competition.” To better compete, the U.S. needs to boost investment in advanced technologies, including quantum computing, Biden said. He added that China is “out-investing us by a long shot.”

“What I'm going to do is make sure we invest,” he said. “We'll have strong competition, but we’ll insist that China play by the international rules. Fair competition, fair practices, fair trade.”