The US vice president stresses the need for Beijing to collaborate with Washington and use its influence to contain North Korea’s provocations
US Vice President Kamala Harris met briefly this Saturday in Bangkok with Chinese President Xi Jinping, less than a week after the latter’s conversation with President Joe Biden. The number two of the US government reinforced the message of the head of the White House that “we must keep the lines of communication open to responsibly manage the competition between our countries,” said an official on condition of anonymity.
The vice president’s meeting with Xi took place in the framework of the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum that is being held in Bangkok. Biden, for his part, met with the Chinese president for three hours on the Indonesian island of Bali during the G20 summit, on which occasion he asked the ruler of the Asian giant to help contain his ally North Korea, which on Friday launched a missile that Washington and Japanese authorities say could reach the continental United States.
Chinese and US officials put a positive spin on their presidents’ meeting, stressing their hope to prevent their recent tensions from spiraling out of control and discussing cooperation in areas such as climate change. For Xi, the Bangkok summit was his second international trip since the pandemic, and was one of the most sought after by the G20 and APEC rulers.
Chinese state media quoted Xi on Saturday as saying his meeting with Biden was “strategic and constructive and has important significance in guiding Sino-US relations in the next stage.” “The two sides are expected to further enhance their mutual understanding, reduce misunderstanding and misjudgment, and jointly promote the return of Sino-US relations to a healthy and stable track,” Xi added, according to state media.
Visit of the Secretary of State
Xi’s appointment with Biden and his brief meeting with Harris came ahead of a visit to China next year by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the first by a senior US diplomat since 2018.
China must use its influence to persuade North Korea “not to take this provocative direction that only destabilizes the region and the world,” the official said, referring to Pyongyang’s weapons program. Harris held emergency talks with the prime ministers of Japan, South Korea, Australia, Canada and New Zealand on Friday over the latest missile launch by the Kim Jong-un regime.
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