Biden, Xi push to break ice over frosty relations
WASHINGTON/BEIJING: Emboldened by a stronger domestic political hand at both ends, United States President Joe Biden and China’s President Xi Jinping, in their first in-person meeting as presidents, candidly conveyed to each other their intentions, priorities and redlines on issues such as the Ukraine war, Taiwan, human rights, trade, and the regional security environment.
With Us-china tensions escalating in recent years, Biden said he wanted to ensure that the vigorous competition did not veer towards a conflict and that he was not looking for a new Cold War, while Xi said that the current state of bilateral relations was not in the interest of the two nations. They also agreed to deepen channels of communication across domains between the two countries — Secretary of State Antony J Blinken will travel to Beijing to continue the discussions — and collaborate where possible, including on the climate crisis.
In his opening remarks at the meeting, Biden told Xi: “As the leaders of our two nations, we share a responsibility, in my view, to show that China and the United States can manage our differences, prevent competition from becoming anything ever near conflict, and to find ways to work together on urgent global issues that require our mutual cooperation.”