Amid a cold war between Washington and Beijin, US President Joe Biden said on September 10 that his goal is not to contain China but build a relationship that is “on the up and up.”
After landing in Vietnam’s Hanoi from New Delhi, Biden addressed a press conference where he outlined his goal and reflected on the progress made during the G20 Summit in India.
“One of the things we did in India, we provided for a new path that’s going to save everybody money, increase the global South’s capacity to grow, we’re going to have a new railroad from India all the way across to the Mediterranean,” Biden said referring to the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor announced during the G20 Summit on September 9.
He said that the shipping lanes and pipelines across the Mediterranean through Europe have nothing to do with hurting or helping China but to make sure the countries involved in the projects grow.
Biden said that China has been changing “some of the rules of the game in terms of trade and other issues” but added that he does not want to contain China.
“I don’t want to contain China. I just want to make sure we have a relationship with China that is on the up and up, squared away. And one of the ways you do that is you make sure that we are talking about the same things,” Biden said.
He asserted that there is an opportunity to strengten alliances with countries like India and Vietnam for a stable Indo-Pacific.
“That’s what this trip was all about, having India cooperate much more with the United States, be closer with the United States, Vietnam being closer with the United States. It’s not about containing China. It’s about having a stable base, a stable base in Indo-Pacific,” Biden said.
The US President is currently in Vietnam to sign off on a “comprehensive strategic partnership” ruling Communist Party, Nguyen Phu Trong.
This comes at a time when tensions between Vietnam and China are high and when the former is looking to disconnect from the latter in terms of procuring resources.
