Biden, Xi seek to defuse tensions
NUSA DUA, Indonesia — President Joe Biden objected to China’s “coercive and increasingly aggressive actions” toward Taiwan during the first in-person meeting of his presidency with Xi Jinping, as the two superpower leaders on Monday aimed to “manage” their differences in the competition for global influence.
The nearly three-hour meeting was the highlight of Mr. Biden’s weeklong, round-the-world trip to Asia, and came at a critical juncture for the two countries amid increasing economic and security tensions. Speaking at a news conference afterward, Mr. Biden said that when it comes to China, the U.S. would “compete vigorously, but I’m not looking for conflict.”
He added: “I absolutely believe there need not be a new Cold War” with the rising Asian power.
Mr. Biden reiterated U.S. support for its longstanding “One China” policy, which recognizes the government in Beijing while allowing for informal U.S. relations and defense ties with Taipei, and “strategic ambiguity” over whether the U.S. would respond militarily if the island were attacked. He also said that despite China’s recent saberrattling, he does not believe “there’s any imminent attempt on the part of China to invade Taiwan.”
Mr. Xi, according to the Chinese government’s account of the meeting, “stressed that the Taiwan question is at the very core of China’s
core interests, the bedrock of the political foundation of China-U.S. relations, and the first red line that must not be crossed in China-U.S. relations.”
Mr. Biden said he and Mr. Xi also discussed Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and “reaffirmed our shared belief” that the threat or the use of nuclear weapons is “totally unacceptable.” That was a reference to Moscow’s thinly veiled threats to use atomic weapons as its nearly ninemonth invasion of Ukraine has faltered.
While there were no watershed breakthroughs, the meeting brought each side long-sought, if modest, victories. In addition to the oblique condemnation of Russian nuclear threats, Mr. Biden appeared to secure from Mr. Xi the resumption of lower-level cooperation from China on a range of shared global challenges. Meanwhile, Mr. Xi, who has aimed to establish China as a geopolitical peer of the U.S., got symbolic home turf for the meeting, and Mr. Biden’s forceful ‘One China’ policy commitment.
The White House said Mr. Biden and Mr. Xi agreed to “empower key senior officials” on areas of potential cooperation, including tackling climate change and maintaining global financial, health and food stability. Beijing cut off contacts with the U.S. in protest of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan in August. China and the U.S. are the world’s worst climate polluters, and their one-on-one climate contacts are seen as vital to staving off some of the most dire
scenarios of climate change.
The two leaders agreed to have U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken travel to Beijing to continue the discussions.
Mr. Xi and Mr. Biden warmly greeted each other with a handshake at a luxury resort hotel in Indonesia, where they are attending the Group of 20 summit of large economies.
“As the leaders of our two nations, we share 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,” Mr. Biden said to open the meeting.
Mr. Xi called on Mr. Biden to “chart the right course” and “elevate the relationship” between China and the U.S. He said he
wanted a “candid and indepth exchange of views” with Mr. Biden.
Both men entered the highly anticipated meeting with bolstered political standing at home. Democrats triumphantly held onto control of the U.S. Senate, with a chance to boost their ranks by one in a runoff election in Georgia next month, while Mr. Xi was awarded a third five-year term in October by the Communist Party’s national congress, a break with tradition.
White House aides have repeatedly sought to minimize any notion of conflict between the two nations and have emphasized that they believe the countries can work in tandem on shared challenges such as climate change and health security.
But relations have grown more strained under successive American administrations, as economic, trade,
human rights and security differences have come to the fore.
As president, Mr. Biden has repeatedly taken China to task for human rights abuses against the Uyghur people and other ethnic minorities, crackdowns on democracy activists in Hong Kong, coercive trade practices, military provocations against self-ruled Taiwan and differences over Russia’s prosecution of its war against Ukraine. Chinese officials have largely refrained from public criticism of Russia’s war, although Beijing has avoided direct support, such as supplying arms.
The White House said Mr. Biden specifically mentioned U.S. concerns about China’s actions in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong, and the plight of Americans it considers “wrongfully detained” or subject to exit bans in China.