(Corrects to restore dropped words in third paragraph quote)
By David Brunnstrom and Michael Martina
WASHINGTON, Feb 10 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden
spoke to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Wednesday, his
first direct contact with the leader of the world's
second-largest economy since winning the November U.S.
presidential election and taking office last month.
It was the first call between Xi and a U.S. president since
the Chinese leader spoke with former President Donald Trump in
March last year. Since then, relations between the two countries
have plunged to their worst level in decades.
Biden told Xi it was a U.S. priority to preserve a free and
open Indo-Pacific region and "underscored his fundamental
concerns about Beijing's coercive and unfair economic practices,
crackdown in Hong Kong, human rights abuses in Xinjiang, and
increasingly assertive actions in the region, including toward
Taiwan," the White House said in a statement.
Biden and Xi also exchanged views on countering the COVID-19
pandemic, as well as on the shared challenges of climate change
and preventing weapons proliferation - a reference to the U.S.
desire to cooperate with Beijing in persuading North Korea to
give up its nuclear weapons, the White House said.
A senior Biden administration official told reporters ahead
of the call Biden would be "practical, hard-headed, clear-eyed"
in dealings with Xi, but wanted to ensure the two of them had
the opportunity to have an open line of communication, despite
U.S. concerns about Chinese behavior. The official said the call came at a time when the United
States believed it was in a position of strength, after
consultations with allies and partners, to lay out core concerns
about China's "aggressive activities and abuses."
However, he said Biden's agenda for the call did not include
U.S. participation in Beijing's 2022 Winter Olympics, despite
mounting demands for the Games to be moved over China's human
rights record and Washington's determination it has committed
genocide against minority Muslims in its Xinjiang region.
The Biden administration will look in coming months at
adding "new targeted restrictions" on certain sensitive
technology exports to China in cooperation with allies and
partners, the official said.
He also said there would be no quick moves to lift the
former Trump administration's trade tariffs on China, but more
consultations with allies on how to deal with the issue of trade
imbalances with Beijing.
SENSITIVE ISSUES
The call came after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken
spoke by phone to top Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi on Friday.
That was the first announced high-level exchange between top
diplomats from the two countries since former Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo met Yang in Hawaii last June. In his call, Blinken said Washington would stand up for
human rights in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong - all issues Yang
had days earlier said the United States should stay out of.
Xi congratulated Biden on his election in a message in
November, even though Biden had called him a "thug" during the
campaign and vowed to lead an international effort to "pressure,
isolate and punish China." Biden has called Beijing Washington's "most serious
competitor", and his administration has indicated it will
broadly continue the tough approach taken by Trump. Biden said in a CBS interview broadcast at the weekend the
relationship would be characterized by "extreme competition,"
and had shown little sign he was in a hurry to engage. His call
with Xi came after those with allies and partners he has vowed
to work with to stand up to Beijing.
Biden has said his administration has expressed hopes to
cooperate with China on policy priorities like climate change.
"I told him I will work with China when it benefits the
American people," Biden said on Twitter after the call.
In his CBS interview, Biden stressed the relationship he
established with Xi when he was vice president under Barack
Obama.
Biden said he had had 24-25 hours of private meetings with
Xi while vice president and traveled 17,000 miles with him.
Biden described Xi was as both "very bright" and "very
tough." He added: "He doesn't have - and I don't mean this is a
criticism, just the reality, he doesn't have a democratic, small
D, bone in his body."
Chinese officials have expressed cautious optimism that the
relationship will improve under Biden and have urged Washington
to "meet China halfway."
The Global Times, a tabloid run by Chinese Communist Party
paper the People's Daily, said recently it expected the Biden
administration keep talking tough while improving cooperation in
some areas.
Trump initially sought to engage China in the first part of
his presidency, but his first call with Xi also did not take
place until more than two weeks after his inauguration, on Feb.
6, 2017, Washington time.