Joe Biden and Xi Jinping met for three hours in Bali

USA President , Joe Bidenand its Chinese counterpart, Xi JinpingThey began their first meeting as heads of state on Monday with the aim of reducing tensions that have moved the world’s most important bilateral relationship into one of its weakest moments.

The meeting started after 5:30 pm local time (09:30 GMT) and will be held at a hotel on the island of Indonesia. BaliThe G20 Leaders Summit begins tomorrow. A little more than three hours later, the White House announced that the meeting was over.

Face-to-face in front of the media, Biden told Xi that he hopes to avoid conflict between Washington and Beijing, and that there is “no alternative” to face-to-face meetings. He also expressed his commitment to “managing differences to prevent competition from turning into conflict”.

For his part, Xi urged him to “find the right direction” for the bilateral relations between the two powers. “The world has come to a crossroads” and “hopes that China and the United States will manage their relationship properly,” the Chinese leader said.

Since Biden’s arrival in the White House in early 2021, the two leaders have spoken five times by phone and via video link. However, he is First in-person meeting since 2017when Biden was Vice President of Barack Obama.

The two leaders, accompanied by their advisers, will receive interpretation, US officials detailed in a conference call. According to those sources, Biden arrived at the meeting with A consistent goal is to establish channels of communication with Xi to avoid misunderstandings and establish “clear trading rules.” To prevent competition between Beijing and Washington from leading to conflict.

This is only Xi’s second trip abroad since the start of the COVID pandemic. Both leaders greeted each other with shake handLeaving behind greetings with fists or social distance.

The White House expects the meeting to last about two hours. Biden said he wanted to discuss an issue with Xi human rights In China and tensions over the South China Sea and Taiwanan ally of Washington that Beijing considers a rebellious province.

Another topic for the meeting will be North KoreaWhich has ramped up missile launches and may be preparing to conduct its first nuclear test since 2017.

It is also possible to address the issue of trade, particularly the tariffs imposed by former President Donald Trump (2017-2021) on Chinese imports that Biden has maintained, as well as new restrictions imposed by the United States on the sale of Chinese chips.

At 9:30 p.m. (1:30 p.m. GMT), about four hours after the meeting between the two leaders began, Biden plans to give a press conference.

They both arrived at the long-awaited meeting after seeing each other Promote it in their countries. The Democrats manage to retain control of the US Senate in the midterm elections and have a chance to expand their margins in the Senate with the run-off in Georgia next month. For his part, Xi won a third five-year term in October at the National Congress of the Communist Party, in a break with tradition.

White House representatives have gone to great lengths to play down any notion of conflict between the two countries, stressing that they believe the two countries can work together on common challenges such as climate change and health security.

But relations between Washington and Beijing have grown strained under successive US administrations as their differences over economy, trade, human rights and security have been exposed.

(With information from EFE, AFP, AP)

Read on: