With the world watching, President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping sat down face-to-face for the first time in a year on Wednesday, with both leaders recognizing the importance of the U.S.-China relationship — while acknowledging it is one that has faced contention.
The two leaders emerged from hours of meetings with agreements on reestablishing military dialogue, a key focus for U.S. officials ahead of the highly anticipated summit, as well as efforts to combat illicit fentanyl production.
Biden said at a press conference after the day of meetings that he believes "that these are some of the most constructive and productive discussions we've had."
The president, who has met numerous times with Xi dating back to when he was vice president, said that their "meetings have always been candid, straightforward. We haven't always agreed, but they've been straightforward."
"Today built on the groundwork we've made with the past several months of high-level diplomacy between our teams," Biden said. "We've made some important progress, I believe."
Biden described his relationship with Xi at the post-meeting press conference: "We have disagreements. He has a different view than I have a lot of things, but he's been straight. I don't mean that good, bad or indifferent. He's just been straight."
But when asked if he trusts Xi, Biden responded, "trust, but verify." And when a reporter questioned if the president still considers Xi a dictator, he replied: "Look, he is."
According to a U.S. official, the agreement between Biden and Xi means that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin can meet with his counterpart in China, once they're named.
The resumption of talks among military leaders is particularly crucial, a U.S. official said, given the recent incidents between U.S. and Chinese aircraft and ships. Biden was "very clear" that the dialogue should be institutionalized and "not done as a gift or as a favor to either side."
On fentanyl, Biden said that "we are taking action to significantly reduce the flow of precursor chemicals and pill presses from China to the Western Hemisphere."
"It's going to save lives," the president hailed, praising Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for playing a role in this effort during the bipartisan delegation he led to China last month.
The president also made clear the United States' "concerns" regarding Ukraine as it repels Russia's invasion, as well as "the next steps in the Middle East" amid Israel's war with Hamas, a U.S. official said. Biden also "explained our desire for China to weigh in with Iran to avoid steps to would be seen as provocative or escalatory," the official noted.
The two leaders also had a "substantial exchange" about Taiwan, the self-ruled democratic island that China considers part of its territory. Under the “One China” policy the U.S. recognizes Taiwan under the government of China, but the Taiwanese president’s stop in the U.S. earlier this year drew the ire of Beijing.
In his $106 billion funding request for Israel, Ukraine and the U.S.-Mexico border, Biden also requested aid to secure Indo-Pacific nations, including Taiwan.
During Wednesday's meeting, Xi sought to dispel the notion that China was planning military action against Taiwan in the coming years, with the leader expressing that there are "no such plans" for an invasion.
He also underscored to Biden that Taiwan is "the biggest, most potentially dangerous issue in U.S.-China relations," the official said. Xi "laid out clearly that their preference was peaceful reunification" before stating the conditions by which "potential use of force could be utilized.
Biden, on the other hand, told Xi that the United States' position was "a determination to maintain peace and stability" and a belief in "the status quo," while asking China to respect Taiwan's electoral process.
"President Xi responded, 'look, peace is all well and good, but at some point we need to move towards resolution more generally,'" the official recalled.
Overall, the official said, Biden "did not pull punches," calling the president's demeanor "respectful but clear."
In a post on social media, Biden hailed the day of meetings with Xi as "some of the most constructive and productive discussions we’ve had."
"We built on groundwork laid over the past several months of diplomacy between our countries and made important progress," Biden wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
“Mr. President, we’ve known each other for a long time. We haven't always agreed, which was not a surprise to anyone, but our meetings have always been candid, straightforward and useful,” Biden told Xi. “I've never doubted what you've told me in terms of your candid nature in which you speak.”
Through a translator, Xi called the U.S.-China relationship “the most important bilateral relationship in the world,” adding that “turning their back on each other is not an option.”
“The China-U.S. relationship has never been smooth sailing over the past 50 years or more and it always faces problems of one kind or another. Yet it has kept moving forward amid twists and turns,” Xi said.
The closely watched meeting — bringing potential ripple effects across the globe — took place at Filoli Estate, a country house and museum just outside of San Francisco as the two prepared to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in the city this week. It marked the pair’s first meeting since Nov. 2022 at the Group of 20 summit in Bali and just their second since Biden took office.
“I think it's paramount that you and I understand each other clearly, leader to leader, with no misconceptions or miscommunication,” Biden said.
Biden and Xi greeted one another at the estate’s entrance, shaking hands and waving to the media before heading to their meeting.
“We have to ensure that competition does not veer into conflict and we also have to manage it responsibly — that competition, Biden said. “That’s what the United States wants and what we intend to do. I also believe that’s what the world wants for both of us.”
“Planet Earth is big enough for the two countries to succeed,” Xi said, later adding “I firmly believe in a promising future of the bilateral relationship.”
Wednesday’s meeting was the culmination of months of engagement with Xi’s administration by U.S. officials as the two world powers look to ease relations that have simmered over a Chinese spy balloon found flying over the U.S., two former U.S. House Speakers meeting with the Taiwanese president and China hacking the emails of a Biden cabinet secretary and other officials.
Over the summer, the Biden administration deployed top officials to Beijing to make inroads in putting the two back on sounder footing. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visited in July while Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo made the trip in late August.
In a closely watched visit in June, Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Xi and other senior Chinese officials. But America’s top diplomat left the region without the Biden administration’s biggest ask: better communications between their militaries.
Less than an hour before departing the White House on Tuesday for California, the U.S. president told reporters reestablishing military-to-military communications was a top priority.
“To get back on a normal course of corresponding: being able to pick up the phone and talk to one another when there’s a crisis, being able to make sure our militaries still have contact with one another,” Biden said when asked how he would define a successful meeting with Xi.
The president then went on to mention the economic importance of the meeting between the leaders of the world’s two largest economies as the Biden administration insists it is not looking to “decouple.” That is even as Biden, as recently as Tuesday, has consistently pointed to signs China’s economy is struggling since the pandemic and just this summer called it “a ticking time bomb.”
Economic competition between the two also has intensified with Chinese officials accusing the U.S. of trying to stifle China’s development. U.S. officials have rejected that, saying they are aiming to pursue competition while ensuring it doesn’t boil over into conflict.
In August, the Biden administration announced an executive order banning or restricting U.S. investment in Chinese technology sectors, covering advanced computer chips, micro electronics, quantum information technologies and artificial intelligence in a move administration officials said was focused more on protecting U.S. national security than economic issues. Last month, it sought to put tighter controls on the export of advanced semiconductor chip and equipment to China.
One concrete agreement on the climate front already came out in preparation of the Biden-Xi engagements on Tuesday night, with the State Department announcing the world’s two largest polluters agreed to pursue efforts to triple renewable energy capacity globally by 2030.