State of Union Address: Revitalised ties with India-like allies amid China rise, says US

PTI

Washington, March 8

The US has revitalised its partnership with its allies and countries like India, Australia and Japan amidst the rise of China, President Joe Biden has said, as he accused Beijing of indulging in unfair economic practices and endangering peace across the Taiwan Strait.

Biden, Trump in war of words

• Without naming Trump, Biden during his feisty speech termed his predecessor a threat to democracy in the US and world.
• Donald Trump said Biden has been “angry and mentally disturbed” and suffers from a “Trump derangement syndrome”.

Biden, 81, in his final State of the Union Address before a joint session of the US Congress on Thursday, said the US wants competition with China, but not conflict.

Biden, seeking re-election in November, said America is in a stronger position to win the competition for the 21st Century against China. “We are standing up against China's unfair economic practice, standing up for peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. We revitalised our partnership with allies and the Pacific, India. Australia, Japan, South and South Korea,” Biden, a Democrat, said.

China considers Taiwan as its breakaway province and insists it should be unified with the mainland, by force if necessary. Taiwan, however, sees itself as completely distinct from China.

China has been ramping up its military offensive against the self-ruled island of more than 23 million people, triggering global concerns including from the US.

He said he several times found his Republican fellow members saying that China is on the rise and America is falling behind.

“They've got it backwards. America is rising,” Biden said.Biden's China comments came a day after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi escalated Beijing's verbal attacks on the United States.

On the sidelines of an annual meeting of China's Parliament, Wang accused the United States of trying to contain China through sanctions and insisted that Washington has “wrong perceptions” about Beijing. “The means to suppress China are constantly updated, the list of unilateral sanctions is constantly extended, and the desire to inflict punishment on China has reached an unimaginable level,” said Wang.

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