President Joe Biden on Friday said the U.S. and its allies must prepare for a “long-term, strategic competition” with China, as he declared that the world was at an inflection point between autocracy and democracy.
“Competition with China is going to be stiff,” Biden told the Munich Security Conference, by video, adding, “that’s what I expect and that’s what I welcome.” He said it was up to the U.S. and Europe to “push back against the Chinese government’s economic abuses and coercion.”
Biden spoke to the conference after attending a virtual meeting of Group of Seven leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom, where they discussed the COVID-19 pandemic.
Biden at the G7 said the U.S. will soon begin releasing $4 billion for an international effort to bolster the purchase and distribution of coronavirus vaccine to poor nations, a program that former President Donald Trump refused to support.
Also see: UN chief joins WHO in slamming rich countries for hogging COVID vaccines
Biden also took jabs at Russia in his Munich speech, charging that President Vladimir Putin seeks to weaken the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, “because it’s so much easier for the Kremlin to bully and threaten individual states.”
Biden’s speech was an about-face from Trump’s “America First” philosophy, and the new president sought to reassure allies that the U.S. is returning to a multilateral approach to global issues.
“Let me erase any lingering doubt,” Biden said. “The United States will work closely with our European partners.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.21% rose modestly Friday, while the S&P 500 SPX, +0.03% and Nasdaq COMP, +0.23% were flat.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
