Biden ‘raised’ human rights concerns with Xi in California sit-down

WOODSIDE, California — President Joe Biden insisted he confronted Chinese President Xi Jinping on allegations of human rights abuse and Taiwan.

“As I always do, I raised areas where the United States has concerns about the [People’s Republic of China] actions, including detained and exit-banned U.S. citizens, human rights, and coercive activities in the South China Sea,” Biden told reporters Wednesday during his post-Xi summit press conference.

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“I gave him names of individuals we think are being held and, hopefully, we can get them released as well,” he said. “No agreement on that, no agreement on that.”

Doug Mills/AP

Biden also underscored the importance of China not interfering in Taiwan’s elections next January for peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.

“We maintain the agreement that there is a One China policy,” Biden said. “I’m not going to change that. That’s not going to change, and that’s about the extent to which we discussed it.”

“I made it clear that I didn’t expect any interference, any at all,” he added.

In addition to fentanyl, the resumption of military-to-military communication, and artificial intelligence, Biden and Xi had a conversation about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Israel’s war with Hamas.

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When asked whether he trusted Xi, Biden said yes, “but verify,” saying he knew Xi and his “modus operandi.”

“We have disagreements. He has a different view than I have on a lot of things, but he’s been straight. I don’t mean that as good, bad, or indifferent, but he’s just been straight,” he said.