Biden Brings Up Concerns Over HK In Call To Xi

US President Joe Biden underscored his "fundamental concerns about China's crackdown in Hong Kong" in a call to President Xi Jinping on Wednesday, the White House says.

It was Biden's first direct contact with Xi since winning the November US presidential election and taking office last month.

Biden told Xi it was a US priority to preserve a free and open Indo-Pacific region and spelled out his "fundamental concerns about China's crackdown in Hong Kong, human rights abuses in Xinjiang, and increasingly assertive actions towards Taiwan," the White House said in a statement.

Biden and Xi also exchanged views on countering the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as on the shared challenges of climate change and preventing weapons proliferation - a reference to the US desire to cooperate with Beijing in persuading North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons, the White House said.

A senior Biden administration official told reporters ahead of the call Biden would be "practical, hard-headed, clear-eyed" in dealings with Xi, but wanted to ensure the two of them had the opportunity to have an open line of communication, despite US concerns about Chinese behaviour.

The official said the call came at a time when the United States believed it was in a position of strength, after consultations with allies and partners, to lay out core concerns about China's "aggressive activities and abuses."

However, he said Biden's agenda for the call did not include US participation in Beijing's 2022 Winter Olympics, despite mounting demands for the Games to be moved over China's human rights record and Washington's determination it has committed genocide against minority Muslims in its Xinjiang region.

The Biden administration will look in coming months at adding "new targeted restrictions" on certain sensitive technology exports to China in cooperation with allies and partners, the official said.

He also said there would be no quick moves to lift the former Trump administration's trade tariffs on China, but more consultations with allies on how to deal with the issue of trade imbalances with Beijing. (Additional reporting by Reuters)