Biden vows to counter China, plans 2024 run
President Joe Biden held his first formal news conference Thursday, addressing a number of topics.
President Joe Biden opened his first formal news conference Thursday with a nod toward the improving picture on battling the coronavirus, doubling his original goal by pledging that the nation will administer 200 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of his first 100 days in office.
Touching on a number of topics, Biden also said China’s ambition of becoming the wealthiest and most powerful country in the world is “not going to happen under my watch.”
Biden said he’d look to help counter China’s rise by increasing American investment in science and research. It’s an area where he says China is thriving while the U.S. hasn’t kept pace.
The president also said he’s made clear to Chinese leader Xi Jinping that the United States will continue to call out Beijing in an “unrelenting way” on human rights violations.
On other matters, Biden:
■ Said it’s his “expectation” that he’ll run for reelection in 2024.
Biden is 78 and already the oldest president to hold office. He would be 82 at the start of a second term.
Biden was asked whether he thought he could face a rematch against Donald Trump. He scoffed at the question. “Oh, I don’t even think about it,” Biden said. “I have no idea.”
■ Called efforts by Republican-led state legislatures aimed at voting restrictions“un-American” and “sick.”
He mentioned prohibitions on bringing water to people
waiting to vote and efforts to close polls at 5 p.m. He said that’s a time when many voters are just getting off work and heading to vote.
The president compared the push to limit voting to Jim Crow laws that were once common in the South. He said he’d keep pushing for voting rights legislation that’s already passed the House but faces an uncertain future in a Senate split 50-50.
■ Said the United States and its allies will respond if North Korea keeps launching missiles.
“I’m also prepared for some form of diplomacy,” he said, “but it has to be conditioned upon the end result of denuclearization.”
He said he agrees with former President Barack Obama’s warning that North Korea was the most pressing foreign policy priority to watch.
Four missiles fired this week were all short-range and don’t pose a direct threat to the U.S. mainland. According to South Korea’s assessment, the first two weapons launched Sunday were believed to be cruise missiles. But Japan says the two fired Thursday were ballistic missiles. They’re more
provocative weapons that North Korea is banned from testing by U.N. resolutions.
■ Said he makes “no apology” for undoing some of the hard-line Donald Trump-era immigration policies.
The Biden administration announced on Feb. 2 that it would no longer uphold the Trump administration policy of automatically deporting unaccompanied minors seeking asylum. Two weeks later, the White House announced plans to admit 25,000 asylum-seekers to the United States who’d been forced to remain in Mexico.
Since then, the number of young migrants crossing into the U.S. without adults has risen. Both Customs and Border Protection, and Health and Human Services officials have struggled to house the influx of children. Immigration officials say the number of adult migrants and families trying to enter the U.S. illegally also has surged.
Biden says his administration is working on solutions to manage the number of children coming to the border. Biden officials have largely blamed the problems on what they say were shoddy Trump policies.