U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping held their first direct meeting Tuesday, albeit via a secure video link, with discussions focused on managing the two powers’ intensifying rivalry.
Although no major breakthroughs were announced, the White House said the two leaders had discussed “the complex nature of relations” between the countries and “the importance of managing competition responsibly.”
“The meeting itself was really about the two leaders discussing ways to manage the competition between the United States and China responsibly and ways to establish guardrails,” a senior Biden administration official said on condition of anonymity. “That was a theme throughout the conversation.”