The number one topic of the meeting will probably be Taiwan. The Chinese are annoyed that the United States has promised to inform Taiwan about the meeting between Xi and Biden.
China’s president Xi Jinping and the President of the United States Joe Biden met on Monday in connection with the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia.
It was the first one-on-one meeting between Xi and Biden in five years, Xi recalled at the beginning of the meeting.
It was therefore also the first time that the leaders of the world’s most influential countries met face-to-face during Biden’s presidential term, which began in 2021.
According to China Daily Xi wants to “return China-US relations back to the track of healthy and stable development”. He also stated somewhat enigmatically that in both countries one should look in the mirror of history when moving towards the future.
of The New York Times by Biden told Xi at the beginning of the meeting that it is important for the two countries to “manage their differences” and make sure that “competition does not turn into conflict.”
Management clapped their hands in front of the cameras in the middle of the day Finnish time. Only later will it become clear whether something concrete has been achieved in the meeting.
“High stakes, low expectations”, anticipate meeting the American news channel CNN in its online story.
US-China relations have suffered many problems in recent years. For example, Biden’s predecessor, a Republican Donald Trump’s initiated trade war is still running.
The corona pandemic and the situation on the island of Taiwan have also strained relations between the great powers and led to mutual accusations.
In the US, there is a fear of a Chinese attack on Taiwan, while in China, the Americans are accused of meddling in China’s internal affairs.
Discussions about Taiwan are likely to dominate Monday’s meeting. Biden has stated in advance that he has no intention of giving China “fundamental concessions” regarding Taiwan.
Biden’s security policy advisor Jack Sullivan on the other hand, has previously said that he plans to inform Taiwan about the meeting between Biden and Xi, so that the Taiwanese can feel “safe and comfortable” about the support given to it by the United States, CNN says.
Spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Zhao Lijian stated last Friday, that China views Sullivan’s plans as an outrageous and reprehensible act. According to him, the United States should avoid China-US relations drifting into a “dangerous situation” because of Taiwan.
China considers Taiwan to be a rebel province, which it plans to rejoin even by war. According to Zhao, some parties in the United States are using Taiwan as a pawn in their attempts to curb the growth of China’s influence.
Russian the war of aggression against Ukraine has also tested the relations between the two countries, as China has not agreed to participate in the sanctions imposed by Western countries against Russia. Trade between China and Russia has grown by about a third this year, according to the Wilson Center think tank in the review.
The timing of the meeting might be somewhat favorable for both managers. Xi strengthened his own position and cleared his path of potential opponents at a recent Communist Party meeting. He is now widely regarded as China’s most powerful leader since then Mao Zedong’s.
On the other hand, the Democrats led by Biden fared clearly better than expected in last week’s US midterm elections, in which, for example, the new representatives of the bicameral federal congress were elected. Democrats retained their majority in the upper house in the Senateeven though the Republicans were predicted to take majorities in both houses of Congress.
In the House of Representatives, the Republicans will get a majority, but much thinner than the polls suggested. Counting of votes was still in progress for the majority of the House of Representatives on Monday afternoon Finnish time.
The fragmentation of the Republicans gives Biden a freer hand to implement his foreign policy.
China’s a quick improvement in relations is not expected, as Biden has defined China, along with Russia, as the biggest geopolitical problem for the United States. China, on the other hand, wants a much more influential position in world politics than before.
The confrontation has been feared to affect, for example, the extent to which the United States and China are able to do, or want to do, cooperation in the fight against climate changeto which new answers are sought at the COP27 meeting currently being held in Egypt.
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