Diplomacy: Biden and Xi get closer in California

The USA and China want to mend their strained relations and are resuming communication between their armed forces after a long period of radio silence. US President Joe Biden and China’s head of state Xi Jinping met on Wednesday (local time) near the US metropolis of San Francisco for their first personal exchange in a year – the crisis meeting lasted more than four hours. Biden said afterwards that the talks were among the “most constructive and productive” he had had with Xi. The two also agreed to be easier to reach each other by phone. At the same time, the US President made it clear that he continued to view Xi as a “dictator.”

Chinese Foreign Office spokeswoman Mao Ning described the statement on Thursday as “extremely wrong.” Comments on the meeting as a whole were, in comparison, benevolent: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi described it as “very good, comprehensive and intense.”

Relations between the world’s two largest economies have long been very tense, including after economic sanctions against Beijing and fears in the West that China’s army could invade Taiwan. The long-awaited meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit was intended to stabilize relations between the two countries. Biden and Xi last saw each other at the G20 summit in November 2022 on the Indonesian island of Bali. They hadn’t spoken to each other since then.

Resumption of military communications

The most important result of the meeting is likely to be that China and the USA want to resume military communication. The step is of “critical importance,” Biden said. Without communication, accidents and misunderstandings could occur. According to the accompanying press from the White House, it is now planned, among other things, for US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to meet his Chinese colleague. There should also be operational discussions between senior military leaders from both countries. The US commander of the Pacific Air Forces will also take part, and ship masters should also exchange ideas with each other, it said.

The US government has complained several times in recent months that the usual direct military communication with China is not working and that this could lead to dangerous misunderstandings and miscalculations. For example, Beijing had turned down requests for talks at the defense minister level. Washington had repeatedly warned that communication between the militaries of both countries was crucial to the responsible management of relations.

Fight against fentanyl

In the fight against the import of the deadly drug fentanyl into the USA, Biden also secured more support from China. Biden and Xi agreed to take measures against the export of components for the production of the opioid from China. The drug kills many people in the USA – more than gun violence, Biden emphasized after the conversation. According to the US national institute that researches drug abuse, more than 70,000 people died from overdoses of synthetic opioids – especially fentanyl – in 2021 alone.

The US government accuses China of playing a crucial role in America’s drug epidemic. For the Democrat Biden, who is running for re-election in November 2024, the agreement is a domestic political success. The drug epidemic is affecting people in the country, and Republicans have put pressure on the president in recent months to take a tougher stance towards China on the issue.

Clear words about Taiwan

The issue of Taiwan has great potential for conflict. The island republic, which is only separated from China by a strait, has had a democratic government for decades. However, China sees the country with more than 23 million inhabitants as part of its territory. The area is often the scene of military demonstrations of power. According to the White House, Biden emphasized in the conversation with Xi that the US rejected any unilateral change to the status quo by either side and expected the differences to be resolved through peaceful means. The US President called on China to exercise restraint in its military activities in and around the Taiwan Strait.

President Xi, however, expressed ongoing concerns during the exchange with Biden and noted that the issue of Taiwan is the largest and potentially most dangerous conflict in US-China relations, journalists reported, citing a US government official. Xi spoke out in favor of peaceful reunification – but also about conditions that made the use of force possible, it said. The government representative quoted Xi as saying that he keeps hearing reports from the USA that China is planning military action in Taiwan. This is not the case.

A statement from Beijing said Xi had called on the US government to stop arming Taiwan and not support independence. Xi also said that China would “unstoppably” achieve reunification.

Pick up the phone

Biden made it clear that he and Xi would be more likely to pick up the phone in the future if a crisis developed. A few weeks after the meeting in Bali a year ago, a huge Chinese surveillance balloon appeared over US territory. At the time, the USA accused Beijing of a large-scale espionage program and shot down the balloon. China rejected the allegations and spoke of a weather balloon. The relationship slipped to a low point – Biden and Xi did not exchange personal information with each other despite their previous efforts in Bali to mend the broken relationship. “President Xi and I have agreed that each of us will pick up the phone,” Biden said after the conversation in California.