On 8/4/2022, during the White House press briefing, Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked President Joe Biden’s spokesman John Kirby, “I know you said that there is not a call scheduled with Xi. Is there a reason why? Because President Biden has known him for decades.”
MR. KIRBY: Yeah.
Doocy: He’s got a lot of free time up there in the Residence this week.
MR. KIRBY: He doesn’t have free time. He — he’s —
Doocy: Is there a reason he can’t just pick up the phone and call?
MR. KIRBY: He’s been working all the way through his illness, quite frankly, Peter. So that’s a little bit insulting.
And as for a call —
Doocy: It’s not insulting to —
MR. KIRBY: It is. It is.
Doocy: — say that the — that someone who is isolating by themselves —
MR. KIRBY: You suggested he has a lot of free time, as if he’s not doing anything. And you know that’s not the case, Mr. Doocy.
Now, look, as for a call with President Xi, I don’t have anything on the President’s schedule to speak to. If ever the President felt like a call with President Xi was the appropriate way to respond or that it would — that it would have an effect and an outcome that he wants to achieve, he certainly would be willing to do that …
President Joe Biden’s spokesman John Kirby said he “beg[s] to differ” that President Biden has been tougher on Russia than China, during the White House press briefing. When Doocy asked, “Why is it that, over the last couple of months, President Biden has been so much tougher on Russia than he is on China?”
MR. KIRBY: I wouldn’t agree with the premise of the question, Peter.
Doocy: Well, I think just — when Russia was getting aggressive … the President was out every couple of days telling Putin, “Don’t do it.” And now China is getting aggressive around Taiwan, and we’re not hearing anything like that from the President.
MR. KIRBY: Oh, beg to differ. We’ve been standing up here for almost a week, Peter, talking about our concerns about what China was preparing to do. We put out declassified information that we saw what the Chinese playbook was going to be … in terms of being honest and transparent about what’s going on and calling it out for what it is. And then, today, we’re talking about exactly what we’re going to do to make sure we can help preserve a free and open Indo-Pacific.
So I’m — I’m afraid I just challenge the premise of your question.
On 8/4/2022, during the White House press briefing, Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, Jean-Pierre would not say if President Biden views communist China as “an opponent or a competitor.” Doocy asked, “Just — quick one. One quick one.”
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I don’t know. (Laughter.)
Doocy: With every —
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Usually this goes on for a while.
Doocy: I — I just have one left. Based on everything that’s happening —
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Hmm.
Doocy: — in Asia right now, does President Biden consider China to be an opponent or a competitor?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Look — and Kirby said this and we’ve been saying this for the past couple of days — right? — more than a week. And I’m going to answer it this way because this goes to why this has come up, which is the Speaker going to Taiwan. You know, she has the right to go to Taiwan. She has the right to travel wherever she wants. She is the Speaker of the House. She is a member of Congress. We can — we will not ever tell her where to go. And — and the President, just a week ago today, spoke to President Xi. It was the fifth time that they spoke. They have — continue to have an open — an open dialogue. And so that is — I just want to make that really clear. And just, you know, they’re — they’re the ones escalating here.
Doocy: Just — the relationship moving forward, though, would he consider China a competitor or an opponent of the United States?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I mean, look, when we — when you think about — when you think about our economy, when you think about how we’re competing around the world, around the globe … So, you know, as it — it relates to that, in that — in that — in that realm, you know, yeah, we want to be competitive as a country.
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Doocy: Biden got a lot of free time, not a call with Xi, why? Why Biden tougher on Russia than on China?