U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Saturday held what was likely their last meeting, with both emphasizing the need to maintain stable ties just over two months before Donald Trump returns to the White House.
Biden met Xi for about two hours at the hotel where the Chinese leader was staying, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Lima, for their first talks in seven months and third meeting as their countries’ leaders.
The talks, which focused broadly on efforts by Washington and Beijing to ease the countries’ tense relationship, also broached a range of issues — from artificial intelligence and military-to-military communications to Taiwan and North Korea.
“China is ready to work with the new U.S. administration to maintain communication, expand cooperation and manage differences, so as to strive for a steady transition of the China-U.S. relationship for the benefit of the two peoples,” China’s official Xinhua News Agency quoted Xi as telling Biden as the meeting began.
Biden, meanwhile, told Xi he was "very proud” of the progress made between the two geopolitical rivals.
"We haven’t always agreed, but our conversations have always been candid and always been frank," Biden said.
"These conversations prevent miscalculations and they ensure the competition between our two countries will not veer into conflict,” he added.
But while the meeting provided an opportunity for the leaders to take stock of the relationship, it was also a chance for Xi to deliver a message to Trump as he weighs the impact of the former U.S. president’s return to office in the weeks before he is sworn in on Jan. 20.
“A new Cold War should not be fought and cannot be won,” Xi said. “Containing China is unwise, unacceptable and bound to fail.”
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters after the meeting that although Biden did not act as “a conduit for messages going in either direction,” the president did reinforce that the next two months are a time of transition in the United States and that stability in the U.S.-China relationship during this period “is essential.”
"The incoming administration is not in the business of providing us assurances about anything,” Sullivan said. “They’ll make their own decisions as they go forward.”
In his first term, Trump unleashed a trade war with China, imposing higher tariffs on Chinese imports after his administration blamed Beijing for “unfair” practices that it said contributed to a large trade deficit in China’s favor.
Biden has mainly kept Trump-era tariffs in place throughout his term, while rolling out a series of onerous tech measures intended to limit Beijing’s developments in areas such as AI and computing.
On the campaign trail, Trump signaled an even more confrontational approach to Beijing, threatening to impose blanket tariffs of up to 60% on imports of Chinese goods as part of his “America First” policy push.
The president-elect has also nominated a number of China hawks to key posts in his administration, including picks of Sen. Marco Rubio for secretary of state and Rep. Mike Waltz as his national security adviser.
On Taiwan — widely regarded as the most contentious issue between the two countries — Xi and Biden appeared to have had a sharp exchange.
While Biden emphasized the importance of “peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait” and called for an end to “destabilizing” Chinese military activity around the democratic island, Xi called Taiwan a red line for China and demanded that the U.S. see “the true nature” of Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te, who is regarded by Beijing as a dangerous separatist.
The issue of self-ruled Taiwan, which China claims as a renegade province that must be unified with the mainland, by force if necessary, is seen as the most explosive issue for Sino-U.S. ties going forward.
Although Washington officially recognizes Beijing rather than Taipei under its long-standing “One China” policy, Chinese officials have worried about what they call a “hollowing out” of U.S. policy toward Taiwan. They have pointed to U.S. congressionally mandated arms deals with the island and repeated visits there by high-ranking lawmakers, as well as Biden’s own verbal gymnastics about the United States defending Taiwan from a potential invasion.
The two leaders also crossed swords on the contested South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost in its entirety, with Xi telling Biden that the U.S. should not get involved in disputes over the Spratly Island chain. Those islands are the subject of an ongoing dispute between China and the U.S.-allied Philippines.
But Biden and Xi did find common ground on AI and decision-making on the use of nuclear weapons — the first time the countries were known to have raised the issue, Sullivan said after the meeting.
The U.S. national security adviser also said that Biden had expressed concern over China’s support for Russia’s industrial base, a move that Washington has alleged has given Moscow an upper hand in its war in Ukraine.
Biden also warned that North Korea’s decision to dispatch troops for combat operations in that conflict had consequences for security and stability in Asia, as well as Europe.
"President Biden pointed out that the PRC publicly stated position with respect to the war in Ukraine is there should be no escalation, no broadening of the conflict, and the introduction of DPRK troops runs foursquare against that," Sullivan said, using the acronyms for China and North Korea’s formal names, the People’s Republic of China and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, respectively.
Sullivan also said that Biden had pointed out that China “does have influence and capacity, and should use it to try to prevent a further escalation or further expansion of the conflict with the introduction of even more DPRK forces."
U.S. and allied officials have voiced concern that deepening cooperation between Russia and North Korea could boost the chances of even more provocative behavior by Pyongyang, with Sullivan noting that further missile tests — or even a seventh nuclear test — were not outside the realm of possibility.
China has long been North Korea’s main patron and top international backer. Observers say the growing ties between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are fast becoming a headache for Xi amid fears of instability on the Korean Peninsula and as Beijing’s influence with Pyongyang wanes.
For his part, Xi told Biden that China does not "allow conflict and turmoil to happen on the Korean Peninsula” and that it will not "sit idly by when its strategic security and core interests are under threat.”
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