After a two-hour phone call with his Chinese counterpart, President Biden made his case for domestic investment in infrastructure, clean energy and other sectors.

Transcript

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

For a new president, that first phone call to a foreign leader is a big deal. The topics that are brought up, the tone taken by both participants - all of it can give clues about how the relationship is going to unfold. So what did we learn from President Biden's first call as president to China's leader, Xi Jinping? NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez joins me now. Good morning, Franco.

FRANCO ORDOÑEZ, BYLINE: Good morning, Rachel.

MARTIN: So how'd it go? Not that they'd let you on the call, but...

(LAUGHTER)

ORDOÑEZ: So, you know, we know they talked about some really tough issues. The White House said Biden raised fundamental concerns about, quote, "coercive and unfair economic practices" and human rights abuses; also China's crackdown in Hong Kong and aggression toward Taiwan. But they also talked about things that they could cooperate on, like the pandemic, climate change and nuclear proliferation. That, though, actually has some China hawks worried. I talked to Dan Blumenthal. He was a senior defense official in the George W. Bush administration. And he said there's concern that Biden could go soft on China.

DAN BLUMENTHAL: Well, we've tried that approach for many years. And I think most recently we tried that approach under the late Bush years and under the Obama years. And China doesn't really want to cooperate with us.

ORDOÑEZ: You know, he adds that China uses the United States' eagerness to work on things like the climate together to really just ease pressure on themselves.

MARTIN: So let's talk about economic policy - right? - trade in particular. Former President Donald Trump, of course, made tariffs on China a key part of his trade policy. Is Biden going to change that?

ORDOÑEZ: Well, officials told us last night that the tariffs will stay at least until a review is completed. One official said there was merit in some of the competitive aspects of Trump's policy, but the Biden team takes issue with how Trump went about it, namely the go-it-alone, America-first approach. So what we should expect to see is more working with partners in the region, as well as allies, on China. The challenge, of course, is how to strike the balance between confrontation and cooperation. Here's Evan Medeiros. He worked on China policy at the National Security Council in the Obama administration.

EVAN MEDEIROS: Well, it's not easy. Oftentimes, it's difficult to do simultaneously. In other words, you can't confront them over Taiwan or the South China Sea and then turn around the next day and ask them to do more on climate change.

ORDOÑEZ: I'll just add that officials told us last night that they've heard a lot of concerns from allies about Chinese military behavior on Taiwan, in the South China Sea. And the Biden team also has heard concerns about whether the United States will have their back.

MARTIN: Do we know at all how this phone call went down from the Chinese perspective?

ORDOÑEZ: Well, Xi had his last conversation with former President Trump back in March. Their relationship really soured after Trump blamed China for the pandemic. So China's seeking some change, significant change. In a readout of the call with Biden in official Chinese media, Xi was quoted as saying cooperation between the two countries was, quote, "the only correct choice," and he urged the resumption of dialogue. He said the two countries need to, quote, "meet each other halfway" and, quote, "treat each other as equals." He warned that, you know, the issues like Taiwan, Hong Kong and other human rights issues that are of concern to President Biden and the Biden administration were internal matters for China to deal with.

MARTIN: Right. Which has long been their position. OK, so NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez, thank you. We really appreciate your reporting on this phone call.

ORDOÑEZ: Thank you, Rachel. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.