Biden touts trillion-dollar jobs plan as way to challenge China’s ambitions

President Biden in his first speech to Congress on Wednesday touted his multitrillion-dollar proposal for domestic investment as key to challenging China’s global ambitions and strengthening America’s position on the world stage.

The president has tied middle-class success in America to contributing to U.S. success on the world stage. He says funding for families; expanded access to education; and jobs in technology, research and development form the bedrock of facing off against Beijing.

Biden said Chinese President Xi Jinping is “deadly earnest” about making autocracy the wave of the future and called for a “once-in-a-generation investment in our families and children” to win the “competition of the future.” 

“We’re in a competition with China and other countries to win the 21st century. We have to do more than just build back. We have to build back better,” the president said. 

“There’s no reason the blades for wind turbines can’t be built in Pittsburgh instead of Beijing.”

The president earlier Wednesday introduced his $1.8 trillion America Families Plan, which expands on the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief legislation that passed in March. 

This is on top of a $2 trillion infrastructure bill.

Biden has identified a rising China as the greatest geopolitical challenge of the century, with Beijing intent on overtaking the U.S. with technological, economic and military superiority.

The president said in his speech that his domestic investment proposals help the U.S. compete with China on the world stage.

“The investments I’ve proposed tonight also advance a foreign policy that benefits the middle class. That means making sure every nation plays by the same rules in the global economy, including China,” he said.  

“In my discussion with President Xi, I told him that we welcome the competition and that we are not looking for conflict. But I made absolutely clear that we will defend American interests across the board,” he added.

This includes standing up against unfair trade practices that undermine American workers and industries and theft of American technologies and intellectual property, the president said. 

Biden also emphasized the U.S. would not back off militarily in the Indo-Pacific — where his administration has condemned Chinese military posturing in the South China Sea as threatening to Asian allies — in order to prevent conflict with the Chinese.

“I also told President Xi that we will maintain a strong military presence in the Indo-Pacific just as we do with NATO in Europe, not to start a conflict but to prevent one,” the president said. 

He added that he told Xi his administration would stand up for human rights. The president and administration officials have said the persecution of Uyghur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang province amounts to genocide.

“I pointed out to him, no responsible American president can remain silent when basic human rights are being so blatantly violated. An American president has to represent the essence of what our country stands for,” the president said.  

“America is an idea — the most unique idea in history. We are all created equal. It’s who we are. We cannot walk away from that principle.”

Updated at 10:16 p.m.