US President-elect Joe Biden has said that he wants to make sure that China plays by the rules and announced that his administration will rejoin the World Health Organisation.
Joe Biden was responding to a question on Thursday about his remarks during the presidential debates that he wanted to punish China over the way Beijing has been behaving. He was asked if that could include economic sanctions or tariffs on China, the world’s second-largest economy.
In April, President Donald Trump announced that the US would withdraw from the WHO, accusing the UN organisation for failing to oversee the onset of the coronavirus as it began to spread in China.
“It’s not so much about punishing China, it’s about making sure China understands they’ve got to play by the rules. It’s a simple proposition,” Joe Biden said during a meeting with a bipartisan group of governors in his hometown in Wilmington, Delaware.
He said that is one of the reasons why his administration is going to rejoin the World Health Organisation.
“We’re going to rejoin on day one as well and it needs reform, acknowledge, and rejoin the Paris Climate Accord. And we have to make sure that the rest of the world and we get together and make sure there are certain right lines the Chinese understand,” Joe Biden, a Democrat, said.
President Trump’s four years in power were the worst phase in China-US relations as the ruling Communist Party of China headed by President Xi Jinping struggled to deal with what Chinese officials say is the most elusive and unpredictable American leader ever since former US president Richard Nixon in 1972 established ties with the Communist nation.
During his tenure, Trump, a Republican, pushed aggressively on all aspects of US-China ties, including with his relentless trade war, challenging China’s military hold on the disputed South China Sea, its constant threats to Taiwan and branding coronavirus as “China virus” after it emerged from Wuhan in December last year.
Chinese strategic experts said Joe Biden entering the White House is expected to provide an opportunity for breakthroughs in resuming high-level communication and rebuilding mutual strategic trust between the two major countries.
