Biden Outlines China Policy in First Call With China’s Xi

Then U.S. Vice President Joe Biden (R) and then Chinese Vice Chair Xi Jinping talk during an expanded bilateral meeting with other U.S. and Chinese officials in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington on Feb. 14, 2012. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

President Joe Biden spoke to Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Feb. 10 about China’s unfair economic practices, the crackdown in Hong Kong, human rights abuses in Xinjiang, and assertive actions in the Indo-Pacific region, including toward Taiwan.

Biden and Xi have had a long relationship dating back years. But Wednesday marked the first time Biden interfaced with Xi as president of the United States. According to a readout of the call from the White House, “Biden affirmed his priorities of protecting the American people’s security, prosperity, health, and way of life, and preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific.”