President Joe Biden on Tuesday said there will be no need for the US to engage in a “physical conflict” with China and he does not worry about one starting despite rising tensions between Washington and Beijing.
Speaking at a news conference prior to departing the Cop26 climate conference for Washington, Mr Biden was asked if the potential for armed conflict between the two powers had grown because of recent Chinese weapons tests, including one of a hypersonic missile last month.
Mr Biden replied: “Am I worried about an armed conflict or some that accidentally occurring with China? No, I’m not”.
The president noted that both China and Russia were absent from the Glasgow climate confab, and said the lack of attendance by Chinese premier Xi Jinping (as well as Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler Momammad bin Salman) was “a problem”.
“I think it’s been a big mistake, quite frankly, China not showing up. The rest of the world will look to China and say what value added are they providing? And they’ve lost in the ability to influence people around the world and all the people here at Cop, the same way I would argue with regard to Russia,” Mr Biden said.
