US President Joe Biden hailed "real progress" in talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The two first shook hands when they met on Wednesday for the first time in a year at a meeting at the APEC Forum for Pacific Cooperation, AFP reported.
Conciliatory messages at the beginning
A smiling Biden greeted Xi after the Chinese leader stepped out of a black limousine at the picturesque country estate of Filoli near San Francisco.
Biden told Xi that tensions “must not escalate into conflict. In turn, Xi pointed out that "turning our backs on each other is not an option" for the US and China.
The two leaders then headed inside for carefully prepared closed-door talks on issues including Taiwan, sanctions and trade that have roiled relations between the world's biggest economies.
Seated across from Xi at a long wooden table in a frescoed ballroom decorated with US and Chinese flags, Biden began his remarks by saying tensions "must not turn into conflict." "We have known each other for a long time. We have not always agreed, which is no surprise to anyone, but our meetings have always been frank, clear and helpful,” he said as Xi listened through headphones. “I think it's paramount that you and I understand each other clearly, leader to leader, but (without) misunderstandings or miscommunication. We must ensure that competition does not turn into conflict."
Biden added that they would discuss global challenges, including climate change, drugs and artificial intelligence.
Xi replied that "conflict and confrontation have unbearable consequences for both sides." "For two big countries like China and the United States, turning our backs on each other is not an option," he said. “Planet Earth is big enough for both sides to succeed.
After 4 hours of negotiations, the White House announced that they were over and the two leaders walked through the gardens of the Filoli estate outside San Francisco. Biden said the talks were going "well" and gave reporters a double thumbs up as Xi waved.
After the initial negotiating session and a working lunch of herb ravioli with ricotta and tarragon chicken with golden rice pilaf, Biden posted a short post on the social network X. “I appreciate the conversation I had today with President Xi because I think it is of the utmost importance to understand each other clearly, leader to leader. There are critical global challenges that require our joint leadership. And today we made real progress."
Later, the content of the US-China summit talks also became known.
The bilateral dialogue between the senior military is being renewed
Xi Jinping and Joe Biden agreed at a summit to resume high-level talks between the military, state media in Beijing reported on Thursday. The two leaders "agreed on Wednesday to resume high-level military-to-military communication on the basis of equality and respect," Xinhua news agency reported.
Xi told Biden that China does not seek to "outdo or surpass the United States" and stressed that "the United States should not plan to suppress and deter China." "China will not follow the old path of colonization and plunder, nor will it follow the wrong path of hegemony when a country becomes strong," Xi said, according to Xinhua news agency.
Xi also warned Washington that Beijing was unhappy with sanctions and other measures against Chinese firms. "US actions against China in terms of export control, investment inspection and unilateral sanctions seriously harm China's legitimate interests," Xi said. "The suppression of science and technology in China is limiting China's high-quality development and depriving the Chinese people of their right to development," he said.
The two statesmen agreed to set up joint government talks on the use of artificial intelligence, as well as a counter-narcotics cooperation task force at the California summit, Xinhua said. Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed with US President Joe Biden on Wednesday to take steps to "dramatically" reduce production of ingredients for the drug fentanyl, a senior US administration official said. "They are taking a number of steps that are designed to dramatically reduce those supplies," the official told reporters, calling it a "significant set of steps that the Chinese have agreed to take in trying to deal with fentanyl."
The two further committed to work to increase scheduled passenger flights between their countries early next year.
On the issue of Taiwan, Xi Jinping told Biden to "stop arming Taiwan" and China's unification with the self-ruled island was "unstoppable." “The United States must ... stop arming Taiwan and support the peaceful reunification of China. China will achieve unification and it is unstoppable,” Xi told Biden, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
For his part, Joe Biden asked his Chinese counterpart to respect the upcoming elections in Taiwan. "We have asked the Chinese to respect the election process in Taiwan," a senior US official said.
Already in the middle of the meeting, Joe Biden told reporters that his conversations with Xi Jinping were the most constructive in his relationship with the Chinese president. "I have just finished several hours of meetings with President Xi and I believe they are some of the most constructive and productive discussions we have had," he told reporters.
Joe Biden responded that he still considers the Chinese president a "dictator" after drawing Beijing's ire with a similar comparison earlier this year. "Well, look, he's, I mean he's a dictator in the sense that he's a man who runs a country, a communist country, which is based on a form of government that's completely different from ours," Biden said at the end of a press conference , when a reporter asked if he would still use the same term.
The last time Biden and Xi met in person was in Bali in November 2022, and relations soured after the US shot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon in February this year. US officials downplayed the chance of major breakthroughs, although they hoped for an agreement to restore a hotline between the Chinese and US militaries, along with cooperation to stop the supply of the drug fentanyl. /BGNES
