President Joe Biden said that no date has yet been set for talks between the US and China. (file)
Glasgow:
US President Joe Biden on Tuesday accused Chinese leader Xi Jinping of shying away from global leadership aspirations by skipping the COP26 summit in Glasgow.
“The fact that China is trying to assert a new role in the world as a world leader – is not visible,” Biden told a news conference in Glasgow.
“It’s just a big issue and they left. How do you do that and someone claim to be able to lead?” The same was true for Russian President Vladimir Putin, Biden said.
Biden said, “It’s a big mistake not to come up to China. The rest of the world looked at China and said ‘What value are they providing?”.
Jinping, who leads the world’s largest emitter of carbon emissions attributed to climate change, has not traveled outside China since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020.
US officials had previously expected that Jinping would meet Biden for the first time as president at the Group of 20 summit in Rome later this week.
However, the two countries said they would meet virtually by the end of the year. Biden said no date has been set.
Biden said he hoped their talks would bring more predictability to relations, which have soured due to disputes on a myriad of fronts, including human rights and China’s growing assertiveness on Taiwan.
“I’m going to be clear. It’s competition; it doesn’t have to be a conflict. There’s no reason there needs to be a conflict,” Biden said.
“I’ve even indicated to him – and I’m not hesitant to say it publicly – that we expect him to play by the rules of the road.”
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