US, China clash as Joe Biden debuts at G7 summit

Biden met Queen Elizabeth for the first time as president. Pics/AFP

The United States and China clashed in rare talks on Friday as President Joe Biden made his international debut at the Group of Seven (G7) summit, with his administration pressing Beijing on Covid-19, Taiwan and human rights.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, joining Biden at the summit of industrial democracies in England, spoke by telephone with senior Chinese official Yang Jiechi, their first talks since a heated in-person encounter in Alaska in March.

Meanwhile, Yang, a senior Politburo member who has long taken a lead in Beijing's handling of the United States, renewed denunciations of Washington as Biden met with leaders from other G7 nations.

"Genuine multilateralism is not pseudo-multilateralism based on the interests of small circles," Yang told Blinken, according to state television. "The only genuine multilateralism is that founded on the principles of the charter of the United Nations and international law," Yang said.

In good spirit

Britain's Queen Elizabeth provoked laughter at the summit, when she quipped to the leaders, "Are you supposed to be looking as if you're enjoying yourselves?" "Yes," British PM Boris Johnson replied. "We have been enjoying ourselves in spite of appearances."

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