American President Joe Biden met with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. He stated that they had a “responsibility to show that the two countries can manage their differences.”
Mr Xi went into the three-and-a-half-hour discussion prepared for a “candid and in-depth exchange of views” with Mr Biden, saying he hoped they would find areas of cooperation.
After the meeting, Mr Biden said that they had been very blunt with one another. He said that the Chinese leader was “straightforward and willing to compromise” on some issues.
The US president stated that “We were very direct with each other about places where we disagreed or were uncertain of each others’ positions, and we agreed to set up mechanisms for key people from each of our administrations to meet to discuss ways we could solve them”,
The White House said that Mr Biden objected China’s “coercive, increasingly aggressive actions” towards Taiwan. He also raised concerns about Beijing’s conduct in Xinjiang and Tibet during the meeting.
According to CCTV, Mr Xi acknowledged that the current state of China-US relations wasn’t in both countries’ best interests and they had to “steer their rudder”.
In their first meeting since Mr Biden assumed office almost two years ago, Mr Xi said that they needed to think about and clarify the future direction of their countries as well as how they can get along with other nations.
‘Very Little Misunderstanding’
Biden stated: “As leaders of our two countries, we share responsibility to show that China (and the United States) can manage their differences, prevent competition becoming anything ever near to conflict, and find ways to cooperate on urgent global problems that require our mutual cooperation.”
At a weekend gathering of Southeast Asian countries, Mr Biden stated that there was very little miscommunication between the US and China.
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On Sunday, he told reporters in Phnom Penh that he had not yet determined the red lines and what the most important things were for each of them going into the next two-years.
Referring to Mr Xi staying in power for at most five more years – breaking with a decades-long precedent which limits the terms of Chinese leaders – Mr Biden said: “His circumstances have changed, to state what is obvious, at home.”
After the successful midterm election which saw the Democrats maintain control of the Senate, the president stated that he was “coming back stronger”.
