The first in-person meeting between the leaders of two global superpowers and the world’s largest economies took place Monday.
President Biden met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in their first face-to-face as heads of state. The meeting came amid intensifying tensions around the world over Taiwan, trade, and the Ukraine war.
There are clear differences in policy. But both leaders say they’re open to finding common ground and cooling tensions between the two countries.
“We share a 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,” said Biden.
The hope is the three-hour meeting in Indonesia will lead to an improvement in rapidly deteriorating relations.
The tensions are said to have led to a decline in cooperation on issues the U.S and China once shared common interests, like combating climate change and containing North Korea’s nuclear program. The White House says Biden and Xi agree a nuclear war should never be fought in Ukraine.
“We discussed Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, reaffirmed our shared belief in the threat where the use of nuclear weapons is totally unacceptable,” Biden said.
The president also says he brought up concerns about human rights violations in China and its aggression toward Taiwan.
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Those tensions heightened last summer after Beijing ramped up military drills following House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) visit last summer.
Despite months of saber-rattling by China’s hardline communist regime, Biden said, “I absolutely believe there need not be a new cold war.”
The Biden administration says it’s not looking for the president to come out of the meeting with specific “deliverables,” but a clearer understanding of each country’s goals and perspective.
In another sign of improving relations, there are plans for Secretary of State Antony Blinken to visit China.
There was also some drama on Monday when a member of the Chinese delegation reportedly yanked and shoved a U.S. journalist as she tried to ask about human rights.
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