U.S. Vice President Joe Biden’s six-day official visit to China, which began Wednesday, comes on the heels of an unprecedented U.S. credit rating downgrade earlier in August. ??U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, starting a visit to China on Wednesday under a cloud of criticism over the U.S. debt crisis, said Thursday that the two nations held the key to global economic stability. ????Biden, 68, needs to mend America’s worsening image in China after the world’s largest economy came close to a disastrous default on its debts earlier this month and suffered a historic credit rating downgrade. China is the biggest foreign holder of U.S. debt. ????Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping and Biden held talks Thursday morning in Beijing, with both delivering messages of cooperation. ????“Under the new circumstances, China and the United States share even broader common interests and co-shoulder more common responsibilities. Enhancing China-U.S. relationship fits not only the interests of the two nations, but also that of the world,” Xi said in the opening remarks. ????Xi described Biden’s six-day visit to China as a big event in this year’s China-U.S. relations, saying the visit will boost bilateral cooperative partnership. ????“I am absolutely confident that the economic stability of the world rests in no small part on cooperation between the United States and China,” Biden told Xi. ????Biden started by recalling his two previous visits to China back to 1979 and 2001, highlighted his meeting with late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping. ????Biden was among the first U.S. senators to travel to Beijing after China and the United States forged diplomatic ties in January 1979. ????“I come with a strong message that the United States of America is planning on and will continue to be engaged totally in the world,” Biden said, referring to his first visit to China as U.S. vice president. ????“Maybe even a stronger message is that our commitment to establish a close and serious relationship with the People’s Republic of China,” Biden said. ???? ????Born Nov. 20, 1942 in Pennsylvania, Biden became one of the youngest U.S. senators when he was elected at the age of 29. ????Biden received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Delaware in 1965 and a law degree from Syracuse University in New York in 1968. ????After graduating from law school, he returned to Delaware to work as an attorney before quickly turning to politics, serving on the New Castle county council from 1970 to 1972. ????Biden was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972 at the age of 29, becoming the fifth youngest senator in history. He went on to win re-election six times and became Delaware’s longest-serving senator. ????As a senator, Biden focused on foreign relations, criminal justice and drug policy. He served on the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, twice as its chair (2001-03; 2007-09), and on the Committee on the Judiciary, serving as its chair from 1987 to 1995. ????Biden has played an important role in shaping all aspects of U.S. foreign policy. He was involved in debating and formulating legislation concerning the major issues of the day, including terrorism, post-Cold War Europe and the Middle East. ????He was particularly outspoken on issues related to the Kosovo conflict of the late 1990s, urging U.S. action against Serbian forces. On the Iraq War, Biden proposed a partition plan as a way to maintain a united, peaceful Iraq. ????Biden pursued the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination but withdrew after it was revealed that parts of his campaign stump speech had been plagiarized from British Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock without appropriate attribution. ????His 2008 presidential campaign never gained momentum, and he withdrew from the race after placing fifth in the Iowa Democratic caucus in January of that year. ????After Barack Obama amassed enough delegates to secure the Democratic presidential nomination, Biden emerged as a front-runner to be Obama’s running mate. ????On Aug. 23, Obama officially announced his selection of Biden as the Democratic Party’s vice presidential nominee, and on Aug. 27, Obama and Biden secured the Democratic Party’s nomination. ????On Nov. 4, the Obama-Biden ticket defeated John McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin, and Biden also easily won re-election to his U.S. senate seat. He resigned from the Senate post shortly before taking the oath of office as vice president Jan. 20, 2009. ???? ????With a net worth between US$59,000 and US$366,000, and almost no outside income or investment income, he was consistently ranked as one of the least wealthy members of the Senate. ????Biden stated that he was listed as the second poorest member of Congress, a distinction that he was not proud of, but attributed to being elected early in his career. ????Biden realized early in his senatorial career how vulnerable poorer public officials are to offers of financial contributions in exchange for policy support, and he pushed campaign finance reform measures during his first term. ????During his years as a senator, Biden amassed a reputation for loquaciousness, with his questions and remarks during Senate hearings being especially known for long-windedness. ????He has been a strong speaker and debater and a frequent and effective guest on Sunday morning talk shows. In public appearances, he is known to deviate from prepared remarks at will. ????The New York Times writes that Biden’s “weak filters make him capable of blurting out pretty much anything.” ????Journalist James Traub has written that “Biden is the kind of fundamentally happy person who can be as generous toward others as he is to himself.” ????(SD-Agencies) | 