US President Joe Biden on Wednesday criticized Beijing’s “coercive” actions across the Taiwan Strait in an address to a summit of Asia-Pacific nations.
Speaking via videoconference to the East Asia Summit, Biden said that the US was “deeply concerned by China’s coercive and proactive actions ... across the Taiwan Strait.”
Such actions “threaten regional peace and stability,” he said, according to a recording of his remarks obtained by reporters.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Biden was speaking at the summit, which brings together 18 Asia-Pacific nations — although the leaders met virtually this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (李克強) was attending, along with Russian President Vladimir Putin and leaders of South Korea and Japan.
Biden also took aim at China’s maritime claims, saying that Washington was “fully committed to the freedom of the seas, open waterways and unimpeded flow of commerce, including in the South China Sea.”
He also said that the US would “speak out for human rights in Xinjiang and in Tibet, and the rights of the people of Hong Kong.”
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