US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping have begun their first face-to-face virtual summit
The highly anticipated meeting comes as tensions rise between the world’s two biggest economies on issues like Taiwan, trade and human rights.
Mr Biden said both countries had a responsibility to ensure their rivalry did not “veer into open conflict”.
This is the most substantial talks both leaders have had since Mr Biden took office in January.
What was said at the meeting?
Both men greeted each other warmly, with Mr Xi saying he was happy to see his “old friend” Biden.
For his part, Mr Biden said, “Maybe I should start more formally, although you and I have never been that formal with one another,” according to a Reuters report.
He added that both men had “always communicated with one another very honestly and candidly”, adding “we never walk away wondering what the other man is thinking”.
Mr Xi said the two countries needed to improve “communication” and face challenges “together”.
He also said healthy China-US relations were needed in order to face global challenges like climate change and Covid-19, Chinese state media said.
The competing nations surprised many last week by issuing a joint declaration to address climate change, at talks in Glasgow, Scotland.
“Humanity lives in a global village, and we face multiple challenges together. China and the US need to increase communication and cooperation.” said Mr Xi.
“I stand ready to work with you Mr President, to… move China-US relations forward in a positive direction.”
What issues are on the table?
Mr Biden said the two sides needed to establish some “common sense guardrails”…. “to ensure that our competition between our countries does not veer into conflict”.
“We believe – and you and I have talked about this – all countries have to play by the same rules of the road, and why the United States is always going to stand up for our interests and values and those of our allies and partners,” he said.
Mr Biden’s comments appear to be a nod to Taiwan – a point of growing contention between both countries.
Beijing views Taiwan as a breakaway province, but democratic Taiwan sees itself as a sovereign state.
The US has been increasingly vocal about its commitment to defending the island.
Mr Biden said last month that the US would defend Taiwan if China attacked, in an apparent departure from a long-held US foreign policy position of “strategic ambiguity” which has seen Washington being deliberately vague about what it would actually do.
Issues like cybersecurity, trade and nuclear non-proliferation are also expected to be discussed.
What can we expect?
According to Vinesh Motwani, Managing Director of research firm Silk Road Research, there has been a “pretty clear toning down of the rhetoric between both [sides]” in the run-up to the summit.
Mr Motwani says it is unlikely that any major breakthroughs would be met, but that there would an expectation that “the tone of the relationship [will be] set”.
“The Chinese side has been very key in saying that we will only engage on the basis of mutual respect. I think a lot of this summit is going to be driven towards building that trust,” he said.
This is the third time the two leaders have spoken since Mr Biden’s inauguration in January. The meeting is expected to last several hours.
Mr Xi has not left China in nearly two years, since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The China-US relationship is crucial to both sides and the wider world, with Beijing repeatedly having called on the new administration in Washington to improve relations which deteriorated under Mr Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-59301167
