NUSA DUA, Indonesia — Pledging to “manage” their fierce global competition, President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping on Monday sat down to their first in-person talks in years, appearing friendly and relaxed despite a nadir in relations between the world’s two superpowers.
The meeting in an Indonesia resort on the margins of the Group of 20 summit of the world’s leading economies lasted for several hours and came as the two countries spar over what Washington considers to be China’s oppression of dissidents and minorities at home and aggressive push to extend power and influence abroad. Beijing is angry over Biden’s maintenance of Trump-era trade restrictions and punitive sanctions that harm its economy.
It was Biden’s first face-to-face meeting with Xi since he became president, although the two leaders have dealt with each other for a decade. Xi recently engineered an unprecedented third term as leader of the Chinese Communist Party, virtually ensuring his status as president for life.
