US President Joe Biden on Wednesday said Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) faces “enormous problems,” including a fragile economy.
In an interview with PBS NewsHour, Biden said China was constrained in its ability to confront the US by the need to protect international trade and that Xi himself is in an unenviable position.
“Can you think of any other world leader who’d trade places with Xi Jinping? I can’t think of one,” Biden said.
Photo: AP
“This man has enormous problems,” he said.
The Democrat, who frequently describes the US-China relationship as the most consequential in the world, added that Xi “has also great potential.”
However, Biden said “so far, he has an economy that is not functioning very well.”
He said Xi recognizes his limited ability for maneuver in confrontation with Western countries.
Pointing to China’s so far relatively muted support for ally Russia in its invasion of Ukraine, Biden said “everyone assumed that China would be all in with Russia” — but “they’re not all in.”
The reason, according to Biden, is that Xi has drawn lessons from the overwhelming Western response against Russia, including imposition of powerful economic sanctions.
“I called him this summer to say: ‘This is not a threat, just an observation — look what’s happened to Russia,’” Biden said.
Biden said he underlined in that conversation with Xi that 600 US corporations had quit Russia since its invasion began in Ukraine a year ago.
“I said: ‘You’ve told me all along that the reason why you need relationships with the United States and Europe is so that they invest in China.’ I said: ‘Who’s going to invest in China if you engage in the same kind of deal?’”
Biden met in person with Xi in November last year on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia.
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