President Joe Biden's administration is taking stock of a newly empowered Xi Jinping as the Chinese president begins a third, norm-breaking five-year term as Communist Party leader. With U.S.-Chinese relations already fraught, concerns are growing in Washington that more difficult days may be ahead.
Xi has amassed a measure of power over China's ruling party unseen since Mao Zedong, the leader from 1949 until his death in 1976. Xi's consolidation of power comes as the United States has updated its defense and national security strategies to reflect that China is now America's most potent military and economic adversary.
"There's an awful lot of issues for us to talk to China about," said National Security Council spokesman John Kirby. He added that U.S. and Chinese officials have been working to arrange a meeting of the leaders, though one has yet to be confirmed. "Some issues are fairly contentious and some should be collaborative," Kirby said.
"External attempts to suppress and contain China may escalate at any time," Xi warned in his address before the Communist Party congress. "We must therefore be more mindful of potential dangers, be prepared to deal with worst-case scenarios, and be ready to withstand high winds, choppy waters and even dangerous storms."
With his third term confirmed, "in some ways, Xi is now freer to act and less encumbered in terms of no longer having to always watch what his rivals are doing," Yang said. "I think that actually may affect his approach and may make him more comfortable in dealing with Biden." Her comments came not long after a top Commerce Department official, Undersecretary Alan Estevez, said at a Washington forum that "if I was a betting person, I would put down money" on the U.S. imposing additional export controls on China.