Biden and Xi Hold Key Bilateral Talks, Stress Importance of Stable US-China Relationship
President Joe Biden and President Xi Jinping met for a crucial bilateral conversation, underscoring the need for stable and cooperative relations between their two nations. The meeting was preceded by a brief exchange outside, where both leaders ignored reporters' questions. Biden did not respond to inquiries about how the two countries would handle North Korea, while Xi stayed silent on questions related to President-elect Trump.
Here are some key moments from their opening remarks:
Xi's Vision for US-China Relations
Xi emphasized the importance of mutual respect and cooperation between China and the United States:
“The United States has recently concluded its elections,” Xi noted. “China’s goal of a stable, healthy and sustainable China-U.S. relationship remains unchanged.” He added that China was ready to work with the new US administration to “maintain communication, expand cooperation and manage differences” for the benefit of both nations.
Xi further reflected on the broader geopolitical context, saying:
“Over the past four years, China-U.S. relations have gone through ups and downs, but under our joint stewardship, the two sides have also been engaged in fruitful dialogue and cooperation, and the relationship has been kept stable.”
He also warned against treating each other as adversaries, stressing that competition should not escalate into conflict:
“When the two countries treat each other as partners and friends, seek common ground while shelving differences, and help each other succeed, our relationship would make considerable progress. But if we take each other as rivals or adversaries, pursue vicious competition, and seek to hurt each other, we would roil the relationship or even set it back.”
Xi framed the relationship within a broader global context, stating:
“Humanity is faced with unprecedented challenges. Major country competition should not be the underlying logic of the times. Only solidarity and cooperation can help humanity overcome current difficulties.”
He also made a call for mutually beneficial cooperation, saying:
“Only mutually beneficial cooperation can lead to common development. Small yard, high fences is not what the major countries should pursue.”
Closing his remarks, Xi reiterated the global significance of US-China relations:
“As two major countries, China and the United States should bear in mind the interest of the whole world and inject more certainty and positive energy into the turbulent world.” He also added:
“It is my consistent belief that as the world's most important bilateral relationship, a stable China-U.S. relationship is critical, not only to the interests of the Chinese and American peoples, but also to the future and destiny of the entire humanity."
Biden's Remarks
Biden acknowledged the progress made in several areas, emphasizing the importance of continued dialogue and cooperation:
“One year ago, we met in Woodside summit in San Francisco and I’m very proud of the progress we both made together,” Biden said. He highlighted achievements such as improved military-to-military communication and cooperation on AI and counter-narcotics. “In my country, Mr. President, overdose deaths are coming down for the first time in five years,” he noted, with Xi shaking his head in approval.
Biden closed by reflecting on his long history of conversations with Xi, recalling their numerous hours spent together over the years, from the Tibetan Plateau to Beijing. He underscored the value of candid exchanges between the two leaders:
“We haven’t always agreed, but our conversations have always been candid and always been frank. We have never kidded one another. We’ve been level with one another.”
He stressed the importance of preventing competition from turning into conflict:
“These conversations prevent miscalculations and ensure the competition between our two countries will not veer into conflict – be competition not conflict. That’s our responsibility, to our people and as you indicated to the people around the world. We are the most important relationship in the entire world, and how we’re getting along together can impact the rest of the world.”
Biden expressed optimism about the potential for continued cooperation, saying:
“We’ve proven it’s possible to have this relationship. So, Mr. President, I’m anxious to get our meeting started and discuss the issues we have remaining.”
With both leaders emphasizing communication and cooperation, the meeting set the stage for deeper discussions on key issues affecting the bilateral relationship.
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