Tom Cotton slams Biden for saying meeting with China’s Xi was ‘an honor and pleasure’

Sen. Tom Cotton criticized President Biden for his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week, suggesting his demeanor toward the communist leader was too casual.

“It’s one thing to meet with our communist adversaries. It’s another for Biden to say that it was an honor and pleasure to welcome a communist dictator like Xi Jinping to America,” Mr. Cotton said on Fox News Sunday, adding that he was “worried [about] the demeanor and attitude” the president had during the meeting.

“That’s not the kind of thing Ronald Reagan would’ve said when he brought Mikhail Gorbachev to the White House,” the Arkansas Republican said.

The two presidents met Wednesday in San Francisco at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit to discuss trade, Taiwan and U.S.-Chinese relations. They also discussed ways to stop the flow of fentanyl into the United States, along with how to reestablish military-to-military communication.

Mr. Cotton also said the U.S. should ban the Chinese app TikTok.

“I think the last few weeks have shown why it’s so urgent that we ban it. It’s not just that it puts the data privacy and security of all Americans at risk, but now it’s turned into a propaganda machine for Chinese communists,” he said. “A good rule of thumb in these situations is if we would not have let communist Russia do it in the Cold War, we shouldn’t let communist China do it now.”

Mr. Biden told reporters after the meeting Wednesday that he and Mr. Xi will have direct contact in future months. He said he spoke about human rights and he “welcomes the positive steps” they took to strengthen diplomacy.

“In the months ahead, we’re going to continue to preserve and pursue high-level diplomacy with the [People’s Republic of China] in both directions, to keep the lines of communication open, including between President Xi and me,” Mr. Biden said. “He and I agreed that each one has to pick up the phone call directly and will be heard immediately.”