Joe Biden Meets With Xi Jinping
- 17.11.2024, 12:45
The conversation lasted about two hours.
US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on the sidelines of the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit, which is taking place in Peru. This is their third personal meeting during Biden's presidential term.
According to the BBC, they summed up the relations between the two countries over the four years of Biden's presidential term. The conversation lasted about two hours.
Both leaders used the meeting to sum up the relations between the two countries over the years in a variety of areas: from the role of artificial intelligence in the nuclear sphere to the fight against drug trafficking and assistance to the Russian defense industry in the war against Ukraine.
Xi Jinping said that Beijing is ready to work with the new American administration of Donald Trump, who will soon replace Biden (two months remain until the end of his term). Despite the fact that the president-elect has already announced a new trade war with China and has chosen a clear “hawk” to head his diplomacy.
The Chinese leader said he expects a “smooth transition” in contacts with Washington after Donald Trump becomes US president again.
According to Xi Jinping, China's goal for the next four years remains “stable and healthy China-US relations”, which “have experienced ups and downs” under Biden. To which Biden responded that he is “proud of the progress we have made during this time”.
“If the two countries treat each other as partners and friends, look for common ground, our relations will make significant progress,” Reuters quotes Xi Jinping as saying at a meeting with Biden. “But if we perceive each other as rivals or opponents, engage in fierce competition and seek to harm each other, we will spoil the relationship or even set it back.”
Biden, according to the official White House release, expressed concern that China continues to support the Russian defense industry. In response, Xi Jinping recalled that Beijing is a supporter of a peaceful settlement of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and is a conductor of “shuttle diplomacy”.