The world can breathe a little easier after US President Joe Biden’s talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Monday.
The world can breathe a little easier after US President Joe Biden’s talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Monday.
But the two 21st century superpowers are still on a collision course.
The summit in Indonesia yielded two important outcomes, according to the US: A joint position that Russia must not use a nuclear weapon in Ukraine and an expected resumption of talks on climate between American and Chinese negotiators, a boost for the COP 27 global climate conference in Egypt.
Biden, meanwhile, reported that he stressed to Xi that Beijing also has an obligation to temper North Korea’s destabilizing missile and nuclear activity that has the Pacific region on edge.
That the world’s two most powerful leaders had not been addressing these issues together in recent months shows how the entire world suffers when Washington and Beijing are as deeply estranged as they’ve been this year.
Public statements from both sides also appeared to indicate a basic foundation that each recognize the critical nature of their rivalry, and both want to ensure that it doesn’t boil over into a war, at least yet. They are moving towards reopening more regular conversations — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is now expected to visit China next year. Such exchanges have been suspended since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August and triggered fierce Chinese protests and a vast military operation showing a growing capacity to cut off the self-governing island.
Communications between leaders are critical at times of crisis – and any understanding and trust between Xi and Biden could come into play in the event, for instance, that the two sides’ naval forces slide into a clash in the South China Sea. Biden has known Xi for years and having a channel to the top in Beijing is especially vital now that his counterpart has become synonymous with the Chinese state itself, as “Xi Jinping thought” becomes official doctrine. The lack of such communications between leaders is one reason why the Russian standoff with the West over Ukraine is so perilous.
Leon Panetta – a former White House chief of staff, defense secretary and CIA chief who dealt with US-China relations for decades – expressed cautious optimism after the talks on the sidelines of the G20 summit.
