President Joe Biden met with President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to discuss a wide range of topics including climate, human rights and nuclear weapons.
The meeting, held in Bali, just one day before the start of the G-20 summit, marked the first face-to-face discussion the two world leaders have had since Biden took office.
Biden raised concerns about allegations of human rights abuses and PRC practices in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong, according to a White House readout of the meeting.
On the issue of Taiwan, Biden assured Xi that the United States’ “One China” policy has not changed and reiterated that Washington opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo by either side,” hinting attempts by China’s mainland to reunify with Taiwan by force would escalate tensions.
“As the leaders of our two nations, we share a responsibility, in my view, to show that China and the United States can manage our differences, prevent competition from becoming anything ever near conflict and to find ways to work together on urgent global issues that require our mutual cooperation,” Biden said to Xi at the start of their meeting.
He added, “And I believe this is critical for the sake of our two countries and the international community.”
Xi hinted at support for de-escalation of tensions in the region, explaining that “the current state of China-U.S. relations is not in the fundamental interests of the two countries and peoples, and is not what the international community expects,” according to a statement from China’s Foreign Ministry.
“The world is big enough for the two countries to develop themselves and prosper together. The two sides should form a correct perception of each other’s domestic and foreign policies and strategic intentions,” the statement reads. “China-U.S. interactions should be defined by dialogue and win-win cooperation, not confrontation and zero-sum competition.”
In recent years, a number of issues have strained relations between the U.S. and the PRC. China has waged an expansive espionage operation against the U.S., stealing technology and trade secrets, along with infiltrating American universities and recruiting scientists from top U.S. defense research labs to develop weapons for China.
