NUSA DUA: US President Joe Biden  told Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping they were both responsible for preventing their superpower competition from turning into conflict, in rare talks aimed at thawing ties that are at their worst in decades.

Ahead of their first in-person talks since Biden became President, two leaders smiled and shook hands warmly in front of their national flags at a luxury hotel on Indonesia’s Bali Island, a day before a Group of 20 (G20) Summit set to be fraught with tension over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “It’s just great to see you,” Biden told Xi, as he put an arm around him, before a meeting that lasted a little over three hours.

However, Biden brought up a number of difficult topics during three hour meeting, according to a White House readout, including raising US objections to China’s “coercive and increasingly aggressive actions toward Taiwan”, Beijing’s “non-market economic practices”, and practices in “Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong and human rights more broadly”. Biden said beforehand he was committed to keeping lines of communication open on a personal and government level. “As leaders of our two nations, we share responsibility, in my view, to show that China and United States can manage our differences, prevent competition from turning into conflict, and to find ways to work together on urgent global issues that require our mutual cooperation,” Biden said in remarks delivered in front of reporters.

Responding to Biden, Xi said relationship between their two countries was not meeting global expectations. “So we need to chart right course for China-US relationship. We need to find right direction for bilateral relationship going forward and elevate relationship,” Xi said.

“World expects that China and United States will properly handle relationship,” he said, adding he looked forward to working with Biden to bring relationship back on right track.

Published in The Daily National Courier, November, 15 2022

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