Joe Biden and Xi Jinping sat down together on Wednesday just outside San Francisco, on the sidelines of the Apec summit. It was almost exactly one year since their last encounter, in Bali, Indonesia.
Biden said the meeting included “some of the most constructive and productive discussions we’ve had” and will lead to stronger dialogue between the two leaders.
Here are seven key takeaways:
1. The US and China will resume direct military-to-military communications
China severed military contact after then House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August 2022.
On Wednesday, the two leaders reached an agreement to resume military-to-military communications. That means defence secretary Lloyd Austin will speak to his Chinese counterpart once someone has been appointed, the official said. Similar engagements will take place up and down the military chain of command.
The official said Biden was “very clear” to Xi that such communications between US and China should be institutionalised and that they are “not done as a gift or as a favour to either side.”
2. They disagreed on Taiwan
Biden and Xi held a “clear-headed” and “not heated” discussion on Taiwan, the most sensitive topic in the relationship, with the greatest potential to spiral into wider conflict. Biden said he reaffirmed the United States’ “One China” policy and its belief that any resolution must be peaceful. “I’m not going to change that,” Biden said. “That’s not going to change.”
Biden said in the press conference after the meeting that he and Xi talked about Taiwan’s election and Biden “expects no interference” from China’s government.
Xi warned Biden at the summit to stop arming Taiwan, according to a readout from China’s foreign ministry. “The US side should ... stop arming Taiwan, and support China’s peaceful reunification,” Xi told Biden.
Biden reiterated, however, that the US would continue to arm Taiwan as a deterrent. The US had maintained strategic ambiguity about whether it would directly intervene to protect Taiwan in the event of an invasion by Beijing.
3. China will curb the production of fentanyl-related products
Biden and Xi agreed China would stem the export of items related to the production of the opioid fentanyl, a leading cause of drug overdoses in the United States. “It’s going to save lives,” Biden said, adding he appreciated Xi’s “commitment” on the issue.
Under the agreement, China will go directly after specific chemical companies that make fentanyl precursors, a senior US official told reporters. He vowed to “trust but verify” Chinese actions on the drug.
When asked by a reporter whether or not he trusted Xi in the contest of their joint efforts to reduce the flow fentanyl, Biden said, “I know the man, I know his modus operandi … he’s been straight.”
4. Biden asked Xi to use his influence on Iran and Russia
Beijing has long sought to be treated as an equal by Washington, and Biden used those ambitions with Xi to address two devastating wars.
In their private session, Biden appealed to Xi to use his influence to try to calm global tensions, particularly to try to pressure Iran not to widen the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
A US official said Biden did most of the talking on the matter, and that Xi mostly listened, and that it was too soon to tell what sort of message China was sending to Tehran and how it was being received.
Biden has also pressed Xi to continue to withhold military support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
5. Xi asked Biden to lift sanctions and change export controls
Xi arrived in San Francisco at a time of economic challenges back in China, where an ageing population and growing debt have hampered its recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to Beijing’s description of the meeting, Xi pressed Biden to lift sanctions and change policies on export controls for sensitive equipment. “Stifling China’s technological progress is nothing but a move to contain China’s high-quality development and deprive the Chinese people of their right to development,” the readout said.
There’s no indication that Biden will agree to take such steps. But even the meeting itself could calm nerves in China, where there have been signs foreign investment is tapering off.
6. Biden repeated his view that Xi is a dictator
Biden said he had not changed his view that the Chinese leader was a dictator. At the end of Biden’s news conference after the meeting, he was asked whether he still held the view, having said it in June.
“Look, he is. He’s a dictator in the sense that he’s a guy who runs a country that is a communist country that’s based on a form of government totally different than ours,” Biden said.
There was no immediate reaction from the Chinese delegation. When Biden made a similar dictator reference in June, China called the remarks absurd and a provocation.
During the meeting Xi told Biden that the negative views of the Communist Party in the United States were unfair, a US official told reporters.
7. Xi forgot his wife’s birthday
Biden and Xi go back years, and Biden often repeats the story of their meetings when they were both vice-presidents. But on Wednesday, it was Xi’s turn to reference their previous encounters during brief public remarks, although he eschewed the embellishments that Biden usually adds to the tale.
“It was 12 years ago,” Xi said. “I still remember our interactions very vividly, and it always gives me a lot of thoughts.”
Biden wished Xi’s wife, Peng Liyuan, a happy birthday. Biden and Peng share a birthday on 20 November.
A US official, who requested anonymity, said Xi was embarrassed, and admitted that he had forgotten that Peng’s birthday was coming up because he’s been working so hard.
With Associated Press
