US, China exhibit sharp contrast during final meeting ahead of transition

On November 16, during his last gathering with U.S. President Joe Biden, Chinese person Xi Jinping voiced his willingness to enactment with the caller administration, support practice and negociate differences.

Biden called the U.S.-China narration the astir important successful the satellite and repeated his oft-stated remark that the United States and China "cannot fto immoderate of this contention veer into conflict."

Pledges aside, erstwhile VOA took a person look astatine what Biden and Xi had to accidental during their gathering connected the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation acme successful Lima, Peru, it recovered that determination was a crisp opposition betwixt what Xi says and China's actions and facts connected the ground.

Cyberthreats

During his gathering with Xi, Biden raised “deep concerns” astir Chinese state-sponsored cyberattacks “targeting civilian captious infrastructure and threatening the information and information of Americans.”

In response, Xi said determination is nary grounds supporting what helium called “the irrational claim” that cyberattacks are being carried retired “from China.”

However, for years U.S. quality agencies and cybersecurity experts person routinely traced cyberattacks to Beijing. Many of the menace actors are not conscionable affiliated with the Chinese authorities but controlled by it. China has besides been compromising telecommunications firms and providers of managed accusation exertion services.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence's 2024 Annual Threat Assessment study named China arsenic “the astir progressive and persistent cyber menace to U.S. Government, private-sector, and captious infrastructure networks.”

That study referenced “PRC operations” that were apt intended to “pre-position cyber-attacks against Guam,” an land successful the Western Pacific and closest U.S. territory to Taiwan.

The 2024 Microsoft Digital Defense Report said that “Beijing’s semipermanent absorption connected controlling Taiwan” had spurred Chinese menace actors to transportation retired a precocious level of targeting against Taiwan-based enterprises.

China has targeted subject and IT entities successful the South China Sea region.

In July 2021, the U.S. and allies accused Beijing of facilitating the cyberattack connected the Microsoft Exchange email server bundle and different ransomware attacks.

Last week, the FBI and the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency revealed that Chinese state-affiliated actors were carrying retired “a wide and important cyber espionage campaign” targeting commercialized telecommunications infrastructure successful the U.S.

Beijing has besides go much assertive successful carrying retired power operations intended to sway U.S. elections.

Ukraine

More than 1,000 days into Russia’s penetration of Ukraine, Biden called retired Beijing’s "continued enactment for Russia’s defence concern base.”

Xi said China “makes each effort for peace” and claimed Beijing’s “position and actions connected the Ukraine contented person ever been just and square.”

However, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization views China arsenic a "decisive enabler" of Russia’s warfare effort successful Ukraine.

China, done its "no limits friendship” with Russia, has provided Moscow diplomatic screen for its warfare and is importantly supporting Russia’s quality to nutrient armaments.

The U.S. says China has ramped up income of instrumentality tools, microelectronics and different exertion utilized to nutrient weapons and weapons systems that Moscow is deploying successful Ukraine.

Declassified U.S. intelligence estimates that astir 90% of Russia’s microelectronics utilized to marque missiles, tanks and craft came from China successful 2023.

The study said China had provided Russia 70% of the instrumentality tools apt utilized to manufacture ballistic missiles.

China besides ramped up commercialized with Russia, peculiarly lipid and state imports, to buoy Russia’s flagging system and dampen the interaction of Western sanctions.

Taiwan

Biden told Xi the U.S. “opposes immoderate unilateral changes to the presumption quo from either side” and called for immoderate differences to beryllium resolved peacefully, reflecting astir fractional a period of U.S. policy. He further called connected China to extremity its destabilizing subject enactment astir Taiwan. Beijing has signaled its willingness to retake Taiwan by force.

Drawing a reddish enactment astir Taiwan, a democratically self-governing land which China claims arsenic its territory, Xi called connected the U.S. to unequivocally reason “Taiwan independency and enactment China’s peaceful reunification.”

Beijing has often conflated its 1 China principle, which states determination is lone 1 China and Taiwan is simply a portion of China, with the United States’ 1 China policy.

While the U.S. acknowledges China’s assertion that Taiwan is portion of China and recognizes Beijing arsenic “the sole ineligible authorities of China,” the one-China argumentation does not instrumentality a presumption connected Taiwan’s status.

With China becoming progressively belligerent toward Taiwan with ramped up aerial incursions, threatening propaganda and exercises simulating attacks connected Taiwan, the U.S. has approved billions successful arms income to Taiwan.

China says that undermines its sovereignty and threatens bid successful the region, calling connected the U.S. to intelligibly spot "the existent nature” of Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te, who Beijing regards arsenic a separatist.

Lai has said it is up to the radical of Taiwan to determine their future. He has repeatedly offered to clasp talks that Beijing has rejected.

Human rights

China’s inclusion of “democracy and quality rights” among its “red lines” is portion of Beijing’s long-standing effort to redefine the fashionable knowing of those concepts and to stifle disapproval of Chinese Communist Party, oregon CCP, rules and abuses.

Beijing has some argued that quality rights “vary from 1 state to another,” portion besides contending that China abides by “the basal principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” oregon UDHR.

However, the CCP systematically violates rights and freedoms acceptable retired by the UDHR, specifically “freedom of thought, conscience and religion” and the rights to “free speech, escaped assembly and privacy.”

The UDHR besides states that that nary 1 “shall beryllium held successful slavery oregon servitude.”

A assemblage of grounds shows that China has subjected Uyghurs and different Muslim minorities successful its Northwestern Xinjiang portion to wide surveillance, internment, forced sterilization, torture, intersexual violence, forced labor, spiritual repression and different forms of taste erasure.

Beijing has likewise engaged successful systematic repression and taste erasure successful the Tibet Autonomous Region.