Xi Jinping and Joe Biden pledged to develop bilateral relations for the benefit of both countries
Joe Biden and Xi Jinping met in California on Wednesday, exchanging handshakes and smiles as they embarked on face-to-face dialogues that both sides hope will stabilise US-China relations, writes The Guardian.
The US president opened his remarks by saying that tensions between the two countries should “not veer into conflict”.
The Chinese president responded by saying that “turning their back on each other is not an option” for the superpowers. “Planet Earth is big enough for the two countries to succeed, and one country’s success is an opportunity for the other,” he said.
Xi called the US-China relationship “the most important bilateral relationship in the world”, and said he and Biden “shoulder heavy responsibilities for the two peoples, for the world, and for history”.
“For two large countries like China and the United States, turning their back on each other is not an option,” he said. “It is unrealistic for one side to remodel the other, and conflict and confrontation has unbearable consequences for both sides.”
The White House later described the meeting as “candid and constructive”, adding that the two leaders had discussed “a range of bilateral and global issues and exchanged views on areas of difference”.
The meeting was the first time that the two leaders have been face to face in a year. It came just after the two countries released a joint climate statement, with more agreements expected in the coming days at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum in San Francisco.
Xi and Biden met the day after their countries pledged to work together more closely to fight global heating, declaring the climate crisis “one of the greatest challenges of our time”.
