Joe Biden's new administration likely to be tough on China-related issues: Report

US President-elect Joe Biden's administration is likely to be as tough as Trump's on several China-related issues such as the South China Sea, claim media reports.

Earlier in the year while campaigning for the US Presidential elections Biden had blasted Beijing for its actions in Hong Kong and termed its policies towards Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang region as 'unconscionable'. Biden had also called the Chinese president a 'thug'.

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"This is a guy who does not have a democratic - with a small 'd' - bone in his body," Biden said during the February 25 Democratic Party primary debate with Bernie Sanders. "This is a guy who is a thug and who in fact has a million Uygurs in reconstruction camps, meaning concentration camps."

Over the same debate, Biden revealed that he once told Xi that the US would defy China's no-fly zone in the South China Sea and that the US has flown B-1 bombers through it. He further added, "We're gonna make it clear, they must play by the rules..."

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On Monday, November 9 while addressing a virtual forum Professor Jay Batongbacal, director of the University of the Philippines Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea said that "given Biden's background (as a veteran lawmaker), we will see more heads brought to bear on the problems worldwide". The online forum was organised by the Foreign Correspondents' Association of the Philippines.

US alliance with Japan and South Korea will be 'less antagonistic'

Speaking at the event, Southeast Asia specialist Carl Thayer said there would be less pressure on regional states to take sides amid the US-China tensions. The US alliance with Japan and South Korea would be 'less antagonistic' under Biden, whose officials were likely to hold informal talks over coffee with stakeholders to come up with a strategy to push back against China, Thayer said.

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China refrains from congratulating Biden

Meanwhile, China has refrained from congratulating Biden on his victory in the high staked presidential election, claiming the results of the poll will be confirmed according to US laws and procedures. When Biden was announced as the winner of the 2020 elections, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesman in its first response on Monday said: "We have noticed that Biden announced being successfully elected, and, as we understand, the result of the presidential election will be determined in accordance with the US legislation and established procedures." Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2016 had congratulated Donald Trump soon after the Republican candidate won the election, according to reports.

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(With ANI inputs)