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US-China relations
ChinaDiplomacy

Xi believes autocracies will fare better than democracies, says Biden

  • US president discusses Chinese counterpart’s ‘beliefs’ at town hall event in Ohio
  • Discussion comes just days before high-level US-China meeting in Tianjin

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US President Joe Biden waves shortly before leaving Washington on Wednesday to travel to Ohio for a town hall event in which he discussed democracies and autocracies. Photo: Getty Images/TNS
Owen Churchill
US President Joe Biden has accused Chinese President Xi Jinping of betting that autocracies will triumph over democracies like the United States, days before high-level diplomatic meetings between the two countries are due to take place in China.

Xi “truly believes that the 21st century will be determined by oligarchs”, Biden said, speaking at a CNN-hosted town hall event on Wednesday. “Democracies cannot function in the 21st century, [his] argument is, because things are moving so rapidly – so, so rapidly that you can’t pull together a nation that is divided to get consensus on acting quickly.”

Referring to Xi and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Biden said “these guys are betting … on autocracies”.

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“Democracy has to stand up and demonstrate that you can get something done,” said Biden, who used the event in Cincinnati, Ohio to tout his administration’s plans to boost US infrastructure, stimulate the economy, and rejuvenate bruised relationships with allies.

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Describing Xi as a “bright and really tough guy”, Biden stressed that the two “don’t agree on a lot of things”.

The rhetoric came at a delicate time for US-China relations, with the two nations preparing for their first high-level diplomatic meeting since tense talks in Alaska in March left the relationship more fraught than before.
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Deputy secretary of state Wendy Sherman is set to travel to Tianjin on Sunday for meetings with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and foreign vice-minister Xie Feng, following an extended back-and-forth between the two sides about the discussions’ format.

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