After Separation, Biden Meets Xi, Praises 'Real Progress'

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By Trevor Hunnicutt and David Brunnstrom

WOODSIDE, Calif. (Reuters) – U. S. President Joe Biden met Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Wednesday for talks aimed at easing friction between the two superpowers over military conflicts, drug trafficking and synthetic intelligence, saying he had made “real progress. “

Biden hosted the Chinese leader at the Filoli Estate, a country house and gardens a few miles south of San Francisco, where they will later travel for an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.

Biden said the U. S. and China will have to make sure the festival between them “doesn’t turn into a conflict” and manage their dates “responsibly. “He said issues such as climate change, counter-narcotics and artificial intelligence required joint attention.

After a morning of discussions and before having lunch with Xi, Biden said on the social media platform

“There are critical and demanding global situations that require our joint leadership. And we’ve made genuine progress,” he said.

The White House said the leaders “had a frank and constructive discussion on a variety of bilateral and global issues and exchanged perspectives on areas of divergence. “

Xi told Biden as they began their talks that a lot had happened since they last met a year ago in Bali. “The global economy has emerged from the COVID pandemic, but it is still suffering far-reaching consequences. The global economy is recovering, yet its momentum remains sluggish. “

He called the U. S. -China relationship “the ultimate bilateral relationship in the world” and said he and Biden “carry heavy daily work for both peoples, for the world, and for history. “

“For two wonderful countries like China and the United States, turning their backs on each other is not an option,” he said. “It is unrealistic for one aspect to reshape the other, and conflicts and clashes have unbearable consequences for both sides. “

Leaders will seek to reduce friction, but deep progress on the vast differences between them may have to wait a day.

Biden and Xi will discuss a range of issues where the countries oppose each other, adding Taiwan, the South China Sea, the war between Israel and Hamas, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, North Korea and human rights.

The leaders of the 21-nation APEC organization (and plenty of CEOs in San Francisco to court them) are meeting amid China’s relative economic weakness, Beijing’s territorial disputes with its neighbors, and a clash in the Middle East that is dividing the United States from its allies.

DIRECT DIPLOMACY

Experts say Xi will try to hold a slick summit with Biden to demonstrate to those interested in the economy and dwindling foreign investment that he can effectively manage relations between the world’s two largest economies.

Efforts to conscientiously choreograph their scale in San Francisco could be thwarted, despite efforts to drive other homeless people off the streets. On Tuesday, Xi’s adventure from the airport to the convention venue was covered in pro- and anti-government protesters in China. Communist Party, a spectacle for the leader, whose last stop was in the United States in 2017.

Biden has sought direct international relations with Xi, betting that the private appointments he has had over a dozen years with China’s toughest leader since Mao Zedong can salvage ties that have grown increasingly hostile.

Chong Ja Ian, a professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, said both sides were involved in what Mao called the Chinese Civil War “talking and fighting, fighting and talking. “

“That is, speaking of construction strength,” Chong said.

Biden is expected to pressure Xi to use his influence to urge Iran to take any action that could spread the standoff between Israel and Hamas across the Middle East.

He is also expected to speak about alleged Chinese operations to influence foreign elections and human rights, adding U. S. citizens who Washington says are unjustly detained in China.

U. S. officials are hoping for concrete steps to mend staff-level talks between countries on issues ranging from military-to-military communications, reducing fentanyl use, managing synthetic intelligence, as well as industry and climate.

Many of the chemicals used to make fentanyl, a scourge in the United States, come from China, the U. S. says.

RENEWABLE ENERGY GOAL

Ahead of the meeting, the two countries subsidized a new renewable energy target and said they would work to reduce methane and plastic pollution, renewing climate cooperation suspended after former U. S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in 2022.

On Wednesday, however, China opposed a U. S. proposal that APEC members integrate sustainability and inclusion into their industrial and investment policies, a person briefed on the negotiations said.

Biden, 80, presides over an economy that has exceeded expectations and the maximum of rich countries after the COVID-19 pandemic. He is running for a second term.

He has rallied the country’s classic allies, from Europe to Asia, to confront Russia in Ukraine and confront China, even as some have differences over the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Xi, Biden’s junior for a decade, has tightened his control over politics, heads of state, the media and the military and replaced the constitution. Recently, challenging economic situations have taken the country off its three-decade expansion trajectory.

Analysts say Xi’s stance could be tempered by considerations over the November 2024 US presidential election and the option of a less friendly US president like Donald Trump.

“Beijing has a lot to gain by engaging with the Biden administration, rather than boycotting it, for the rest of its term,” said Tong Zhao of the Carnegie China think tank.

(Reporting via Trevor Hunnicutt; additional reporting via Steve Holland, Michael Martina, Martin Pollard, Jeff Mason, David Lawder and David Brunnstrom; editing via Heather Timmons, Angus MacSwan, Don Durfee and Josie Kao)

After Separation, Biden Meets Xi, Praises ‘Real Progress’

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