US President Joe Biden is further defining his foreign policy course. After Biden had already announced that he would distance himself from the “America First” of his predecessor Donald Trump and rely on diplomacy again, he has now commented on dealing with the People’s Republic of China.
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Accordingly, Biden wants to refrain from the confrontation with China, he said in an interview with the broadcaster CBS. But: instead of a conflict, there will be “extreme competition”. In contrast to Trump, he wanted to “concentrate on international rules.”
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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently described China as the greatest challenge for US foreign policy in the next few years. The United States would have to face China “from a position of strength.” To do this, the USA would have to work together with its allies and should not leave territory to China in the international structure. Blinken also said Trump was right in his tough approach to China.
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Trump had instigated a bitter trade war with China during his tenure. Before he took office, Biden announced that he wanted to keep the additional tariffs introduced by Trump on products from China and other measures in the trade conflict for the time being.
Sanctions against Iran should not fall for the time being
Biden also commented on the sanctions against Iran. The spiritual leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had previously called for this to be lifted. Biden replied that he would only be ready if Tehran again adheres to its obligations under the international nuclear agreement. Iran must stop uranium enrichment in order to bring the US back to the negotiating table.
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The 2015 nuclear deal is designed to prevent Iran from building an atomic bomb. However, the former US President Donald Trump unilaterally terminated the agreement he considered inadequate in 2018 and then put massive economic sanctions against Tehran into force. Then Iran gradually withdrew from the agreement.
At the beginning of January, Iran announced that it would increase uranium enrichment to 20 percent, which is a clear violation of the nuclear agreement. This provides for a limit of 3.67 percent.
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