United States President-elect Joe Biden on Thursday said that his country will rejoin the World Health Organisation and the Paris Climate Accord. Biden’s made the comments while responding to a question about his remarks during the presidential debates that he wanted to punish China over how Beijing has been behaving.

Speaking at a meeting with a bipartisan group of governors, Biden said that more than “punishing” China through measures like economic sanctions, it was more important for Beijing to understand “that they have got to play by the rules”.

“That is one of the reasons we are going to rejoin World Health Organisation on day one...we are going to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord,” Biden said. “We have to make sure that the rest of the world and we get together and make sure there are certain right lines the Chinese understand.” He however asserted that the UN body needed reforms.

In July this year, the administration of incumbent US President Donald Trump had withdrawn from the World Health Organisation. The withdrawal however, is effective July 6, 2021, as the law mandates US to give a year’s notice and meet all the financial obligations in the current year.

In June 2017, trump had exited the Paris Agreement on climate change, resulting in sharp criticism from world leaders and environment activists.

During his election campaign, Biden had vowed to reverse both the decisions taken by Trump.