Washington: US President-elect Joe Biden has said that he wants to make sure that China plays by the rules. Joe Biden also announced that his administration will rejoin the World Health Organisation (WHO). Earlier outgoing President Donald Trump had opted out of the WHO for the UN body’s failure to tackle the COVID-19 crisis.
Biden was responding to a question Thursday about his remarks during the presidential debates. He had said 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. It should be stated here that China is the world’s second largest economy.
Trump had announced in April that the US would withdraw from the WHO. He accused 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,” Biden said. He was in conversation with a bipartisan group of governors in his hometown in Wilmington, Delaware.
Biden asserted that is one of the reasons why his administration is going to rejoin the WHO. “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. We have to make sure there are certain right lines the Chinese understand,” Biden, a Democrat, said.
President Trump’s four years in power were the worst phase in China-US relations. The ruling Communist Party of China headed by President Xi Jinping struggled to deal with the Trump administration. Chinese officials have said Trump is the most elusive and unpredictable American leader ever since former President Richard Nixon in 1972 established ties with the Communist nation.
Chinese strategic experts said Biden entering the White House is a blessing. They expect him to provide an opportunity for breakthroughs in resuming high-level communication. They are also hoping he would rebuild mutual strategic trust between the two major countries.