Taiwan, nuclear weapons, “tough” competition… what Xi Jinping and Joe Biden said to each other when they first met

It was the first face-to-face meeting since US President Joe Biden took office with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, who won a third term last month. “The world expects China and the United States to properly manage their relationship,” the leader of the Celestial Empire said. The White House called Monday a “sincere” discussion of the main points of contention that have steadily grown between the two rival powers as China’s importance and assertiveness have grown, calling into question American leadership and the geopolitical situation since the end of World War II. .

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“I think we understand each other,” said Joe Biden, adopting a decidedly positive tone even on Taiwan. During this three-hour interview on the Indonesian island of Bali, on the sidelines of the G20, the US president expressed “concern” about human rights in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. If the US “continues to pit fierce competition” against China, Joe Biden felt it necessary to “keep channels of communication open.”

On Twitter, Joe Biden expressed a desire to ease tensions: “We discussed our responsibility to prevent competition between our countries from escalating into conflict and to find ways to work together on common challenges that affect the international community.”

As a sign of relief, it was decided that US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken would visit China early next year. This visit will be the first at this level since 2018, the White House emphasizes. And climate cooperation, interrupted last summer, will resume between the two largest emitters of CO2.

Taiwan: “a red line that must not be crossed”. The fate of Taiwan concentrates all tensions. Xi Jinping warned Joe Biden not to “cross a red line,” China’s state-run Xinhua news agency reported. “The Taiwan issue lies at the core of China’s core interests, is the political foundation of Sino-US relations, and is the first red line that must not be crossed in Sino-US relations,” the Chinese told Reuters. “I don’t think China is preparing an imminent attempt to invade Taiwan,” the American leader told reporters. “He has made it clear that he wants a peaceful resolution” of the dispute, he added. “I’m sure he understood very well what I said and I understood what he said.”

The island and the mainland have been administered separately since 1949, but the communist regime claims sovereignty over Taiwan. Joe Biden himself has sowed doubt in the past, repeatedly saying that the United States is prepared to use force in the event of a Chinese invasion, breaking with traditional American ambiguity. Tensions between Taiwan and China reached their highest level in August when Beijing staged a massive and unprecedented military maneuver to protest US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to the island.

Ukraine: “opposing” any use of nuclear weapons. “President Biden and President Xi reaffirmed their agreement that a nuclear war must never be fought and can never be won, and underscored their opposition to the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine,” the White House said in a statement. Although China refuses to condemn the Russian invasion, it said it was “very concerned” about the situation in Ukraine. “She has always been on the side of peace and will continue to encourage peace talks,” the Beijing leader said. “We support and look forward to the resumption of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.”

Beijing says it is not challenging Washington. The world is “big enough” for the two countries to prosper and “share more, not less” interests, China’s foreign ministry said after the two leaders met. “Under the current circumstances, China and the US have more, not less, common interests,” Xi Jinping told Joe Biden, adding that Beijing does not seek to challenge Washington or “change the existing international order.”

Biden: China is not “seeking” to escalate conflict with North Korea The American president said on Monday he was “confident” that China “does not expect an escalation” from its ally North Korea, whose missile launches are raising concerns about nuclear testing. Joe Biden said he asked his Chinese counterpart to tell Pyongyang “clearly” not to conduct nuclear tests or Washington would have to take “defensive” measures.