Published 20:20 IST, February 12th 2021
'They're going to eat our lunch': Biden warns against China's expanding infrastructure
US President Joe Biden on Thursday, February 11 warned lawmakers that China was aggressively outpacing the US on infrastructure.
US President Joe Biden on Thursday, February 11 warned lawmakers that China was aggressively outpacing the US on infrastructure. Addressing members of the Environmental and Public Works Committee in the Oval Office, Biden asserted that China was investing colossal amounts of money into upgrading their transportation and infrastructure. His remarks came shortly after the newly minted President held his first call with Chinese General Secretary Xi Jinping.
“They’re investing a lot of money, they’re investing billions of dollars and dealing with a whole range of issues that relate to transportation, the environment and a whole range of other things,” Biden told a bipartisan group of senators whom he met with in the Oval Office.
'Major rail initiatives'
Elaborating further, Biden also warned against China’s vast rail network and their novel “initiatives”. He said that China has a major, major new initiative on the rail and already has a rail that goes 225 miles an hour with ease. He then warned that "China would eat their lunch if the US did not get moving”. Furthermore, he encouraged the committee to step up its work. “And so what I’d like to talk to these folks about — since they are the key committee — is how we begin this. I’ve laid out what I think we should be doing,” the president was quoted as saying by the White House.
Regardless, Biden hopes to redeem the relationship between China and US. However, in another development, Editor-in-Chief of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) run tabloid Global Times, Hu Xijin on Wednesday lashed out at the US over its decision to scrutinize WHO report that ruled out at COVID-19 originated from Chinese lab. Sharing a snip of a media report, the Chinese stooge wrote on Twitter, "US to scrutinize WHO report? Or is it that WHO to scrutinize the US data? Are we heard it wrong, or Washington is just muddy-headed but hegemonic?"
Updated 20:20 IST, February 12th 2021