Biden aims to end differences with EU, to jointly tackle China: Official

As tensions between Washington and Beijing continue to spiral downwards, President-elect Joe Biden aims to end the US' trade war with European allies and work with them to deal with China's trade practices, said a key official in the Biden administration.

Jake Sullivan, Biden's national security adviser, told CNN on Sunday that the new administration recognise China as a serious strategic competitor to the US.

According to South China Morning Post citing CNN, Sullivan also said president-elect Biden would work out the economic differences between the US and its European allies to improve their relations and jointly counter China on multiple fronts, from trade and technology to the military and human rights.

"Our goal is to go out right away and sit down not just on the question of China, but to work out the economic differences that we have so that we can end the multifront trade war that the Trump administration started," Sullivan said on CNN on Sunday.

Sullivan's remarks came after China and the European Union wrapped up negotiations on a comprehensive investment agreement last week.

Sullivan said the US would not reverse tariffs with China but would consult partners in Europe and Asia to "bring leverage to bear on China to change its most problematic trade abuses".

Referring to the US and "like-minded economies", Sullivan said: "We are confident that we can develop a common agenda on issues where we share deep concerns about China. And it's not just on trade. It's on technology. It's on human rights. It's on military aggression."

He added, "That will put us in a stronger position to be able to deal with China effectively, in a clear-eyed way and in a way that will ultimately deliver the kind of results that have entirely escaped the Trump administration of the last four years."

Biden in December said that Washington needs to build a coalition of like-minded nations to confront Beijing.

"As we compete with China to hold China's government accountable for its trade abuses, technology, human rights and other fronts, our position would be much stronger when we build coalitions of like-minded partners and allies that make common cause with us in defence of our shared interests and our shared values," Biden said following his briefing with national security and foreign policy agency review team members.

Under the Donald Trump administration, ties between the two countries had deteriorated over issues such as human rights violations in Xinjiang, encroachment on the special status of Hong Kong, accusations of unfair trade practices by Beijing, lack of transparency concerning the pandemic and China's military aggression in various parts of the world.