‘We’ll retaliate’: Joe Biden puts Xi Jinping on notice in State of the Union address

Joe Biden has warned China the US will retaliate if it encroaches on US ‘sovereignty’, singling out Xi Jinping for censure in a fiery State of the Union address.

US Vice-President Kamala Harris, left, and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy listen as President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union at the US Capitol in Washington on Wednesday. Picture: AFP

President Joe Biden has warned China that the US will retaliate if it encroaches on US “sovereignty”, singling out Chinese President Xi Jinping for censure in a fiery State of the Union address that all but certainly fired the starter’s gun on the 80-year-old Democrat’s bid for a second term in the White House.

In a speech before a joint sitting on congress on Tuesday night (Wednesday AEDT), Mr Biden sought to convince Americans and the world that the US remained a vital and growing power, more than capable of competing with China economically and militarily in a dawning new cold war between Washington and Beijing.

“Make no mistake: as we made clear last week, if China threatens our sovereignty, we will act to protect our country. And we did,” he said.

The speech came days after a Chinese surveillance balloon was shot down by the US military off South Carolina on Saturday (Sunday AEDT), prompting a war of words between Washington and Beijing. After facing criticism from his top Republican rivals for the presidency for his handling of the spy balloon saga, Mr Biden in his address namechecked Mr Xi in his attack against the rise of authoritarian regimes.

“Autocracy has grown weaker, not stronger. Name me a world leader who would change places with Xi Jinping. Name me one,” Mr Biden yelled at one point during his remarks, veering off script and pointing angrily at the audience, in a speech that typically draws tens of millions of American viewers.

Mr Biden spent most of his 72-minute address extolling the virtues of his administration’s first two years in office, from the minutiae of credit card late fees and nurses’ wages to subsidies for electric cars, and police and voting reform, and taking credit for the US jobs boom as pandemic restrictions were lifted.

“We have created a record 12 million new jobs, more jobs created in two years than any president has ever created in four years,” he said, stressing the 50-year low in the unemployment rate of 3.4 per cent. “I signed over 300 bipartisan laws since becoming President,” he boasted, pointing to new funding for about 20,000 new projects that seek to spur a revival of well-paid blue-collar, unionised jobs, growth of which Mr Biden has made a centrepiece of his political strategy.

Despite a range of polls consistently showing Americans, including most Democrats, do not want Mr Biden to run again in 2024, his speech left little doubt that was his intention, paving the way for a potential rematch with Donald Trump who has also announced his candidature.

Addressing a packed theatre of congressmen, his cabinet, the top brass of the US military and judicial establishments, and even rock star Bono, Mr Biden appeared on occasion to relish drawing heckles from Republicans in the audience.

“Liar,” yelled prominent Georgia Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene at one point, after Mr Biden accused Republicans of wanting to “sunset”, or cancel, popular federal spending programs Medicare and Social Security. But overall the Democrat leader, who would be 86 at the end of a second term, struck a more conciliatory tone toward Republican opposition, who recently won a slim majority in the House of Representatives, eschewing any mention of the “MAGA Republicans” and Trump loyalists he has previously criticised. “Speaker, I don’t want to ruin your reputation, but I look forward to working with you,” he said to new GOP House leader Kevin McCarthy, whose hand he symbolically shook three times before commencing his annual address to the US congress, the highest-profile speech on the nation’s political calendar.

In another potential olive branch, Mr Biden stressed his intention to stem the record tide of illegal immigrants – and the deadly opioid fentanyl – crossing the US border with Mexico every month, which is causing economic and social havoc for local communities and providing the GOP with fertile pickings in the lead-up to the 2024 campaign.

“Since we launched our new border plan last month, unlawful migration from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela has come down 97 per cent,” he said, eliciting some groans from Republicans in the audience, who have severely criticised the President for neglecting a problem that most effects Republican-governed Texas.

Mr Biden signalled an extension and expansion of the more economically protectionist policies begun under Mr Trump, who as president slapped major tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminium that remain in place, prompted by years of job losses in the US manufacturing heartland.

“Buy American has been the law of the land since 1933, but for too long, past administrations have found ways to get around it,” Mr Biden declared, announcing “new standards to require all construction materials used in federal infrastructure projects to be made in America”.

“Where is it written that America can’t lead the world in manufacturing again? For too many decades, we imported products and exported jobs,” he added, in a nod to the left-wing populism increasingly popular on both sides of politics.

Mr Biden made no sweeping policy announcements and made only a veiled reference to the brewing fight between the two major parties over the US debt ceiling, which must be lifted by legislation by June to avoid a potentially catastrophic US government default.

“Let’s commit here tonight that the full faith and credit of the United States of America will never, ever be questioned,” he said.