Joe Biden presses Xi Jinping on 'abuses in Xinjiang' in first call with Chinese leader

Joe Biden clashed with Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, over the treatment of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan, in their first phone call since Mr Biden came to power.

Mr Biden on Thursday said he spoke to his Chinese counterpart for two hours on Wednesday night. "If we don't get moving, they are going to eat our lunch," Mr Biden told reporters.

Wednesday’s call was also the first between Mr Xi and a US president since the Chinese leader spoke with former President Donald Trump in March last year. Since then, relations between the two countries have become the worst they have been for decades.

Mr Biden told Mr Xi it was a US priority to preserve a free and open Indo-Pacific region and "underscored his fundamental concerns about Beijing’s coercive and unfair economic practices, crackdown in Hong Kong, human rights abuses in Xinjiang, and increasingly assertive actions in the region, including toward Taiwan," the White House said in a statement.

President Xi pushed back, warning that Taiwan, Hong Kong and Xinjiang - home to China's persecuted Uighur Muslims - were “China’s internal affairs and concern China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and the US side should respect China’s core interests and act prudently,” the foreign ministry said.

Mr Xi emphasised that China and the US can accomplish much for their mutual benefit when they work together, while confrontation “will definitely be disastrous for both countries and the world,” the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement Thursday.

Despite the disagreements, the Chinese leader sounded a positive tone, expressing hope for better relations between the two sides.

“You have said that America can be defined in one word: Possibilities. We hope the possibilities will now point toward an improvement of China-US relations,” the foreign ministry statement quoted Mr Xi as saying.

He also said that China and the US could have in-depth communications on matters concerning their relationship and major international and regional issues, and that their military, economic, financial and law enforcement authorities “may also have more contacts”.

The White House said that Mr Biden and Mr Xi also exchanged views on countering the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as on the shared challenges of climate change and preventing weapons proliferation - a reference to the US desire to cooperate with Beijing in persuading North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons.

A senior Biden administration official told reporters ahead of the call Mr Biden would be "practical, hard-headed, clear-eyed" in dealings with Mr Xi, but wanted to ensure the two leaders had the opportunity to have an open line of communication, despite US concerns about Chinese behaviour.

The official said the call came at a time when the United States believed it was in a position of strength, after consultations with allies and partners, to lay out core concerns about China's "aggressive activities and abuses."

However, he said Mr Biden's agenda for the call did not include US participation in Beijing's 2022 Winter Olympics, despite mounting demands for the Games to be moved over China's human rights record and Washington's determination it has committed genocide against minority Muslims in its Xinjiang region.

The Biden administration will look in coming months at adding "new targeted restrictions" on certain sensitive technology exports to China in cooperation with allies and partners, the official said.

He also said there would be no quick moves to lift the former Trump administration's trade tariffs on China, but more consultations with allies on how to deal with the issue of trade imbalances with Beijing.

The call came after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke by phone to top Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi on Friday. That was the first announced high-level exchange between top diplomats from the two countries since former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met Yang in Hawaii last June.

In his call, Mr Blinken said Washington would stand up for human rights in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong - all issues Yang had days earlier said the United States should stay out of.

Mr Xi congratulated Mr Biden on his election in a message in November, even though Mr Biden had called him a "thug" during the campaign and vowed to lead an international effort to "pressure, isolate and punish China."

Mr Biden has called Beijing Washington's "most serious competitor", and his administration has indicated it will broadly continue the tough approach taken by Mr Trump.

Mr Biden said in a CBS interview broadcast at the weekend the relationship would be characterised by "extreme competition," and had shown little sign he was in a hurry to engage. His call with Xi came after those with allies and partners he has vowed to work with to stand up to Beijing.

Mr Biden has said his administration has expressed hopes to cooperate with China on policy priorities like climate change.

"I told him I will work with China when it benefits the American people," Mr Biden said on Twitter after the call.

In his CBS interview, Mr Biden stressed the relationship he established with Xi when he was vice president under Barack Obama.

Mr Biden said he had had 24-25 hours of private meetings with Mr Xi while vice president and travelled 17,000 miles with him.

Mr Biden described Mr Xi as both "very bright" and "very tough." He added: "He doesn't have - and I don't mean this is a criticism, just the reality, he doesn't have a democratic, small D, bone in his body."