WOODSIDE: US President Joe Biden met Chinese leader Xi Jinping for the first time in a year on Wednesday (Nov 15) for talks that may ease friction between the two superpowers over military conflicts, drug-trafficking and artificial intelligence.
Biden welcomed the Chinese leader at the Filoli estate, a country house and gardens about 48km south of San Francisco, where they will move later for a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.
In opening remarks, Biden said the US and China had to ensure that competition between them “does not veer into conflict” and manage their relationship “responsibly”.
Xi told Biden a lot had happened since their last meeting a year ago in Bali. “The world has emerged from the COVID pandemic but is still under its tremendous impacts. The global economy is recovering, but its momentum remains sluggish.”
Xi called the US-China relationship “the most important bilateral relationship in the world,” and said he and Biden “shoulder heavy responsibilities for the two peoples, for the world, and for history”.
“For two large countries like China and the United States, turning their back on each other is not an option,” he said. “It is unrealistic for one side to remodel the other, and conflict and confrontation has unbearable consequences for both sides.”
The leaders will be seeking to reduce friction between the countries, but deep progress on the vast differences separating them may have to wait for another day.
Officials on both sides of the Pacific have set expectations low as Biden and Xi are set to discuss Taiwan, the South China Sea, the Israel-Hamas war, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, North Korea and human rights – areas where the leaders have been unable to resolve long-standing disagreements.
Biden and Xi arrived in San Francisco on Tuesday where they will both participate in the (APEC) summit.
Leaders from the 21-country group – and hundreds of CEOs in San Francisco to court them – meet amid relative Chinese economic weakness, Beijing’s territorial feuds with neighbours, and a Middle East conflict that is dividing the United States from allies.
Experts say Xi will be looking for a smooth summit with Biden to show those at home concerned about the economy and dwindling foreign investment that he can successfully handle relations between the world’s two largest economies.
Efforts to carefully choreograph Xi’s visit may be upended in San Francisco despite efforts to drive homeless people from the streets. The route from the airport to the conference site was lined with demonstrators for and against China’s ruling Communist Party, an unusual sight for Xi, who last visited the United States in 2017.
The venue for the bilateral summit, far from the APEC conference location, offers the leaders a combination of security, serenity and remoteness.
Biden has sought direct diplomacy with Xi, betting that a personal relationship he has cultivated for a dozen years with the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong might salvage ties that are increasingly turning hostile.
Chong Ja Ian, a political science professor at the National University of Singapore, said the two sides are engaged in what Mao referred to during the Chinese Civil War as “talk and fight, fight and talk”.
“That is, to talk while building up forces,” Chong said.
Source: CNA
