Biden Says US-China Relations Set to Improve ‘Very Shortly’

Jenny Leonard and Annmarie Hordern, Bloomberg News

US President Joe Biden speaks during a news conference following the Group of Seven (G-7) leaders summit in Hiroshima, Japan, on Sunday, May 21, 2023. Biden called Republican demands for sharp spending cuts unacceptable and said he’ll talk with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy about debt-ceiling and budget negotiations on his flight back from Japan. , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- US President Joe Biden said he expected ties with China to improve “very shortly” after a spat over an alleged spy balloon earlier this year derailed relations.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday at the end of the Group of Seven summit in Japan, Biden said the US’s move to shoot down a “silly balloon that was carrying two freight cars worth of spying equipment” changed the dynamic after his meeting with President Xi Jinping in November last year.

“I think you’re gonna see that began to thaw very shortly,” Biden said on Sunday. He added that his administration was considering whether to lift sanctions on Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu, whom Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is seeking to meet at an event in June in Singapore.

Biden has previously voiced optimism about holdin a long-anticipated phone conversation with Xi, though he didn’t give any indication on how soon that might take place. Beyond the balloon incident, China has accused the US of seeking to contain its rise by restricting access to advanced technology and providing support to Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory.

Biden’s remarks came just hours before China said it found serious cybersecurity risks after conducting a review of Micron Technology Inc., and ordered operators of key information infrastructure to stop purchasing the US company’s products. Last week, Micron cut a deal with Japan for financial aid to make next-generation memory chips, an agreement that US Ambassador Rahm Emanuel said set a precedent for countering Chinese “coercion.”

G-7 leaders said in a communique released over the weeked that they wanted “constructive and stable” relations with China even as they pushed ahead with steps to reduce dependence on Beijing for critical supply chains. The leaders emphasized that they were “not decoupling or turning inwards,” while also announcing a fresh initiative to counter Chinese “economic coercion.”

China over the weekend hit back at the G-7 initiative on coercion, saying the US’s sanctions and export controls “makes the US the real coercer that politicizes an weaponizes economic and trade relations.”

Despite all the heated rhetoric, the White House has started engaging with China on multiple fronts of late.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met China’s top diplomat Wang Yi in Vienna last week, and China’s Commerce minister Wang Wentao next week is set to meet with both US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo in Washington and US Trade Representative Katherine Tai in Detroit.

Yet fundamental disagreements remain between the US and China. Biden on Sunday reiterated that the US would intervene if China moved to invade Taiwan, saying there needs to be a “mutually agreed” outcome between Beijing and Taipei.

“There is clear understanding among most of our allies that, in fact, if China were to act unilaterally, there would be a response,” Biden said.

China has long opposed any US official engagement with Taiwan, and said again in a statement over the weekend that the matter “must be resolved by the Chinese.”

“No one should underestimate the determination, resolve and capability of the Chinese people in safeguarding China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the Foreign Ministry said.

(Updates throughout)