In a major effort to ease tensions, US President Joe Biden and China’s President Xi Jinping held their first face-to-face meeting in a year on November 15. The two leaders met for four hours and agreed upon the need to resolve conflicts by highlighting modest agreements, restoring military ties, and combating illegal fentanyl.
The talks were held at a private location – the historic Filoli Estate in Woodside, California – for security reasons.
When the leaders and the delegations were seated together, Biden emphasised that he valued the meeting since it was important for one leader to understand the other without any misconceptions or miscommunication. The US President said that the most positive outcome of the meet-up was the agreement that if either had a concern, they would speak to each other over the phone. He said it was the two leaders’ responsibility to make certain that competition did not turn into conflict.
“We’re back to direct, open, clear, direct communications,” Biden said, adding that “vital miscalculations” by either side would not augur well for either country.
Xi equally stressed that hostilities were not an option for two large countries like China and the United States. China’s president asserted that it was unrealistic for one party to think that the other would remodel itself based on the other’s expectations and that conflict and the ensuing confrontation would have disastrous pitfalls for both sides. He also emphasised that the US and China had different histories, cultures, social systems, and development trajectories but that he was confident that as long as they respected each other, co-existed harmoniously and co-operated for a win-win outcome, the two countries would be fully able to rise above their differences and get along with each other.
“I firmly believe in a promising future of the bilateral relationship,” Xi said, adding that he looked forward to a comprehensive exchange of viewpoints.
A Biden administration official disclosed that China agreed to undertake steps that would allow for better communication about each country’s armed forces, including what is likely to be contact between top military officers from both countries.
Also on the table during the four-hour meeting were the issues of Fentanyl, artificial intelligence, climate change, the Middle East and Taiwan, a senior US administration official informed the press later.
Joe Biden said the pervasiveness of Fentanyl – an ultra-deadly synthetic opioid – in parts of the USA was one of the worst drug problems the country had ever faced. The United States and China formulated a plan to restrain Chinese companies who produce “precursors” to fentanyl and to curb access to supplies, the Biden administration official said.
On the contentious issue of Taiwan, the official said that the US president told his Chinese counterpart that his country was committed to the status quo and asked China to respect Taiwan’s election process, but Xi signaled that some larger resolution was needed.
China considers Taiwan, a self-governing island, as a breakaway province.
The official revealed Taiwan is viewed by Xi as potentially the most dangerous issue that could jeopardise China’s relationship with the USA and that the United States was focused on deterrence.
Xi reportedly indicated that China was not planning to invade Taiwan despite its ongoing military preparations.
Asked during the news conference that ensued if he still considered Xi as a dictator as he has in the past, Biden said: “Well look, he is.”
“He is a dictator in the sense that he is a guy who runs a country that is communist.”
