New Delhi: US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping met in California on Wednesday on the sidelines of a summit of Asia-Pacific regional leaders in hopes of stabilizing US-China relations. During the US-China summit meeting, President Joe Biden and Xi Jinping agreed to work to ensure that differences between the two countries remain manageable and that relations do not derail. Meanwhile, the two leaders had a conversation on Indo-Pacific issues including war, Ukraine, Taiwan. Not only this, even after meeting the Chinese President, Joe Biden’s opinion has not changed and he said that he still considers Xi Jinping a ‘dictator’. Let us tell you that the last time Joe Biden and the President of China had a conversation was a year ago. Already strained relations between the two countries worsened after the US shot down a Chinese spy balloon.
According to news agency PTI, the two presidents of the US and China have met face to face for the first time after a year. Joe Biden and Xi Jinping spent more than four hours together at the Filoli estate, about 40 kilometers south of San Francisco. During the meeting, both had bilateral talks and also had lunch. Not only this, during these four hours both of them were walking together in the garden of the estate.
Sitting at a long table with their respective delegations in San Francisco, the two leaders faced each other and stressed that it was in both countries’ interests to avoid conflict and instead focus on cooperation. According to a senior official, the discussion was completely open, honest and frank. Joe Biden took his thoughts and concerns directly to Xi Jinping, who is said to have responded with arguments of his own. During the meeting, the two leaders discussed various issues including bilateral relations, Iran, Middle East, Ukraine, Taiwan, Indo-Pacific, economic issues, artificial intelligence, drugs and regional and major global issues such as climate change.
After the meeting, China agreed to take action against companies involved in the illegal drug trade in the US, according to a senior administration official. He said the two leaders also agreed to resume military-to-military level talks led by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Chinese counterpart. Soon after the end of the talks, an official said on condition of anonymity that at the end of the meeting the two countries also agreed to talk about the issue of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The official said President Xi Jinping made it clear that he wanted to stabilize relations with the US. He said Joe Biden told Xi in clear terms that China had not provided a level playing field to American companies.
After this, Chinese President Xi also expressed his concern and said that reporting on the Communist Party of China in America is not appropriate. Not only this, he also vehemently denied reports that China was moving towards attacking Taiwan. The two leaders had many discussions on Taiwan, which Xi described as the most dangerous aspect of US-China relations. When Joe Biden said that America believes in the status quo. At the same time, Xi said that peace is good, but at some point they need to move towards resolving the issue. Biden and Xi also spoke about the situation in the Middle East and Ukraine.
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Tags: Joe Biden, xi Jinping
First published: November 16, 2023, 08:44 IST