US as global leader’

States, Cui Tiankai, said China’s goal is to “meet the growing aspiration of the Chinese people for a better life”.

“Our goal is not to compete with or replace any other country. This is never our national strategy.”

He said dividing the world was not a solution that will help get rid of the coronavirus, tackle climate change or eradicate poverty.

“We don’t think any attempt to divide the world into different camps or even build confrontational military blocs, we don’t think that this kind of approach is a solution.”

Mr Biden said he would work with US allies to hold China accountable for its actions on Taiwan, Hong Kong, the South China Sea, and its treatment of the Uighur minority, as well as push Beijing to stick to international rules for fair trade.

He said he told Mr Xi during a two-hour conversation after taking office: “As long as you and your country continue to so blatantly violate human rights, we are going to continue in an unrelenting way to call it to the attention of the world, and make it clear, make it clear, what’s happening. And he understood that.”

Failing to do so, as happened under former President Donald Trump, would undermine America’s

credibility, Mr Biden said.

“The moment a president walks away from that, as the last one did, is the moment we begin to lose our legitimacy around the world. It’s who we are,” he said.

Mr Tiankai denied China is separating Uighur families in Xinjiang.

“Let me make it very clear. China is not doing these things,” he said on CNN.

Mr Biden, who plans to unveil a multi-trillion-dollar infrastructure proposal next week, said he would ensure increased US investment in promising new technologies, such as quantum computing, artificial intelligence and biotechnology.

He said he aimed to return US investment in research and technology development closer to the 2 per cent of GDP invested in the 1960s from the current rate of about 0.7 per cent.