We Must Up Our Game Lest China Swallows Us: Worried Joe Biden Warns New Administration

We Must Up Our Game Lest China Swallows Us: Worried Joe Biden Warns New Administration

By Spy Uganda CorrespondentĀ 

USA: US President Joe Biden has warnedĀ  that China will soon have them for ‘lunch’ lest they up their game especially on infrastructure spending.

Biden was speaking on Thursday with a group of senators about the need to upgrade infrastructure in the US.

Biden’s warning comes the day after his first phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

According to reports, Biden’s call to Mr Xi took a hard line on human rights saying a confrontation would be a disaster for both countries.

Ā Biden made the comments after meeting with members of the Environment and Public Works committee.

ā€œIf we donā€™t get moving, they (China) are going to eat our lunch,ā€ President Biden told senators.

ā€œTheyā€™re investing billions of dollars dealing with a whole range of issues that relate to transportation, the environment and a whole range of other things. We just have to step up.ā€ he added.

During the campaign, Biden proposed spending $2tn (Ā£1.45tn) over four years to create jobs and invest in clean energy infrastructure.

A widely cited American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) ā€œreport cardā€ from 2017 gave the countryā€™s infrastructure a grade of ā€œD+ā€.

The ASCE estimated that the total ā€œinfrastructure gapā€ needed $2tn by 2025 to fix, but would cost the economy twice as much if it went unaddressed.

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The World Economic Forumā€™s 2019 Global Competitiveness Report ranked the US 13th in a broad measure of infrastructure quality, down from fifth place in 2002.

China has been investing heavily in its infrastructure, pouring money into high-speed rail, metro systems, apartment buildings, electricity grids and mobile networks.

ā€œThey have a major new initiative on rail and they already have rail that goes 225 miles an hour with ease,ā€ Mr Biden noted

Biden furtherĀ  discussed ā€œfundamentalā€ concerns about Beijingā€™s ā€œcoercive and unfairā€ trade practices, as well as concerns over Chinaā€™s crackdown in Hong Kong and treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang.

He also raised Chinaā€™s increasingly assertive posture towards Taiwan and the countryā€™s lack of transparency over Covid-19, said White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

Mr Xi maintained a hard line on Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Taiwan, calling them matters of ā€œsovereignty and territorial integrityā€.

He however told Biden confrontation would be a ā€œdisasterā€ and the two sides should re-establish the means to avoid misjudgements, Chinaā€™s foreign ministry said.

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