The U.S. president said there had been progress during discussions with Xi Jinping, but also called him a dictator for the second time in five months.
Biden said in a press conference that talks in San Francisco on Wednesday yielded progress in areas that included tackling the trafficking of fentanyl, restoring communication lines between the Chinese and U.S. militaries and co-operation on slowing methane emissions and increasing renewable energy by 2030.
The president said that the U.S. would “continue to compete” with China but would manage that competition “responsibly” so that it “doesn’t veer into conflict or accidental conflict.”
However, there appeared to be no agreement on the fate of Taiwan and for the second time in five months, Biden called Xi a “dictator.”
“China watchers have seen this movie many times before, and it never ends well for Washington,” Singleton said. “Despite signs of renewed engagement, both Xi and Biden remain committed to their current confrontational course, which means the prospects for stabilization remain distant at best and foolhardy at worst.”
Singleton believes Chinese concessions on stopping flows of fentanyl—one of the biggest killers of Americans aged between 18 and 45, or military aggression encircling Taiwan, will be “litmus tests” for other talks on issues important to Beijing such as maintaining access to U.
