Biden Holds First Call With China’s Xi Jinping Since Taking Office

President Joe Biden spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping for two hours on Wednesday in their first call since Biden took office. According to a White House readout, Biden “underscored his fundamental concerns” on China’s economic practices and its actions towards Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Taiwan, as well as the “shared challenges” of the COVID-19 pandemic, global health security, climate change, and weapons proliferation. You can read the official Chinese account of the call here. Biden also made news the following day by telling a group of senators that China would “eat our lunch” if “we don’t get moving” on infrastructure investment. Coverage followed similar narratives across the spectrum, emphasizing different topics raised in the call. Some coverage on both sides also used the call as a platform to report on the broader state of U.S.-China relations under the new administration.