Biden, Xi meet as countries move toward reopening communication

US President Joe Biden shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping before their meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit, Nov. 14, 2022, in Nusa Dua, in Bali, Indonesia (Photo: AP)
US President Joe Biden shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping before their meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit, Nov. 14, 2022, in Nusa Dua, in Bali, Indonesia (Photo: AP)

Summary

US-China relations have hit the lowest point in decades after a visit by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan

NUSA DUA (INDONESIA) : President Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping began a closely watched meeting that officials on both sides said is intended to restore regular dialogue between the two powers and stabilize the relationship whose downward spiral in recent months has raised concerns of a new Cold War.

“I’m committed to keeping lines of communication open between you and me personally and our countries across the board," Mr. Biden told Mr. Xi on Monday at the start of the meeting, which is taking place in Bali, Indonesia, ahead of a summit between the heads of the Group of 20 major economies. He said the two nations have a responsibility to show the world that they can manage their differences.

Mr. Xi said the current state of China-U.S. relations isn’t in line with the countries’ fundamental interests or the international community’s expectations. He said he was prepared to have a candid and in-depth discussion with his American counterpart—their first in-person meeting since Mr. Biden won the presidency.

“The world expects that China and the United States will properly handle their relationship," Mr. Xi said.

Relations between the two countries hit their lowest point in decades after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August. Beijing responded by conducting military drills and said it was shutting down much of its communication with the U.S. government. It suspended climate talks and a broad range of law-enforcement cooperation with the U.S., while canceling some two-way military dialogues.

Senior U.S. officials have for months pressed China to reopen those formal communication channels. In the run-up to Monday’s talks, Beijing moved toward restarting regular interactions between climate, military and other officials from each nation, according to people briefed on the discussion. A U.S. official said the two sides have already been discussing climate-related matters.

U.S. and Chinese officials have downplayed the possibility that Monday’s meeting would result in a significant policy breakthrough on the issues straining ties between the two nations. Instead, it is intended to re-establish ways the two economic powers may be able to work together and avoid unintended conflicts, officials said.

Before the meeting, Messrs. Biden and Xi shook hands in front of a row of American and Chinese flags as they posed for photos. “Good to see you," Mr. Biden said.

For Mr. Xi, the meeting provides an opportunity to unequivocally restate China’s red lines directly to Mr. Biden. These include Beijing’s insistence that Washington shouldn’t aid in the defense of Taiwan and that China wouldn’t shy away from a military clash with the U.S. to assert control over the democratically self-ruled island, according to people familiar with the matter.

Any possible visits from senior U.S. politicians to Taiwan could be seen by the Chinese as provocative actions, and could raise the possibility of actual clashes between the superpowers, the people said. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) has said he would visit Taiwan if he becomes speaker. Republicans are inching toward taking back control of the House.

Mr. Xi is also expected to discuss with Mr. Biden the new U.S. export restrictions on advanced semiconductors and chip-manufacturing equipment, the people said. The Commerce Department issued a set of rules last month that would allow the U.S. to block foreign-made chips that are manufactured with U.S. technology in an effort to prevent American technology from advancing China’s military power.

The meeting included small delegations of U.S. and Chinese advisers. While Messrs. Biden and Xi have had five virtual or phone meetings since last year, White House officials hope the talks will build upon the extensive interactions the two leaders had when they served as vice presidents of their respective countries.

“He’ll have that opportunity to sit and be totally straightforward and direct and to hear President Xi be totally straightforward and direct in return," said White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, previewing the talks aboard Air Force One. “And try to come out of that meeting with a better understanding and a way to responsibly manage this relationship."

Mr. Xi claimed a norm-breaking third term as Communist Party chief in late October, when he also elevated loyalists into the party’s top echelons. The personnel reshuffle is expected to continue until China’s annual legislative session in the coming spring, where top state positions—including the premiership and other cabinet roles—will be formalized.

Mr. Xi brought newly empowered members of his leadership to Monday’s meeting. U.S. officials said they saw the meeting as an opportunity to get greater clarity on points of contact in the Chinese government, gain new directives from Mr. Xi to re-engage with the Biden administration and possibly lay the groundwork for future conversations between the two leaders.

“What I’m very much hoping is that as a result of the president’s bilateral with President Xi today, we’ll engage in more intensive conversations going forward with our Chinese counterparts" on the economy and economic policy, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Monday.

Following the meeting, the U.S. and Chinese governments are planning to issue separate summaries of the discussions. The two sides aren’t expected to release a joint statement, U.S. officials said.

The two countries planned the talks over several months and dozens of hours of negotiations, after Messrs. Biden and Xi decided during a July phone call to work toward setting up an in-person meeting. Every element of the meeting has been negotiated and haggled over, U.S. officials said.

The negotiations helped open up communication between the two sides, the officials said, but Monday’s talks are also expected to be tightly choreographed.

The war in Ukraine is expected to be a topic of discussion during the meeting. Despite China’s ties with Russia, U.S. officials said they are confident that Mr. Xi has reservations about the war in Ukraine and Vladimir Putin’s threat to use nuclear weapons.

U.S. officials would like to receive reassurances from Mr. Xi during the meeting that he opposes the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine, something the Chinese president has told other world leaders.

Mr. Biden arrived in Bali on Sunday following a trip to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where he attended a pair of summits with Southeast and East Asian nations. U.S. officials laid out new economic and maritime initiatives at the meetings, seeking to present the U.S. as a counterweight to China, which has strong ties with Southeast Asian countries.

Mr. Biden met with the leaders of Japan and South Korea on Sunday and discussed North Korea’s missile tests that have rattled the region. Ahead of that meeting, Mr. Sullivan said Mr. Biden would convey to Mr. Xi that North Korea represented a threat not just to the three nations but across the region.

Additional provocations by Pyongyang could “simply mean further enhanced American military and security presence in the region," Mr. Sullivan said.

—Chun Han Wong and Andrew Duehren contributed to this article.

 

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