President Joe Biden meets Chinese counterpart Xi. What was the outcome?

President Joe Biden meets Chinese counterpart Xi. What was the outcome?

United States President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a high-level US-China summit on 15th November 2023. They will meet on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit. Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation is an inter-governmental forum for 21 member economies in the Pacific Rim that promotes free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

The meeting was most anticipated as the leaders of both superpowers were going to discuss various issues. The key issues which Biden and Xi were going to discuss are the Middle East, Taiwan, the Taiwan Election, Iran, Fentanyl Production, and Military Communications. 

President Biden emphasized the importance of peace in the Middle East as the US want to continue with its India Middle East Europe Economic Corridor which will connect India to Europe opening the way to markets of the most populous country.

Taiwan was the major topic which was discussed at this summit. Everyone was excited as to what would be the outcome when the US President directly confronted "Dictator" Xi to put a stop to his aggressive expansionist policies. President Xi said that he wants a peaceful reunification of self-ruled Taiwan into China, but said he will use force under certain conditions. When Xi said that force would be used under certain conditions, he meant the arming of Taiwan by the US and its overall presence in the South-China Sea. President Biden replied with the US commitment to regional peace. 

President Biden told Xi to respect the democratic election of Taiwan which will be held in January next year and the US President also told Xi not to interfere with the election on the self-ruled island.

President Biden also said that the US seeks China's help in talking with the Iranian regime to maintain peace in the Middle East. Chinese Foreign Minister replied confirming that the talks with Iran are ongoing.

The US officials also discussed the issues of Fentanyl Production in China. China officials confirmed that they will take action against the companies concerned. President Biden said on Wednesday China had re-committed itself to tackling the flow of fentanyl - a synthetic opioid responsible for over 70,000 drug overdose deaths in the US last year. Biden wants to control the circulation of illegal fentanyl before the next Presidential election in November next year 2024. Beijing had earlier refused to hold talks on the supply of fentanyl unless the US lifts restrictions on its Institute of Forensic Science.

One of the most important key takeaways is to resume military communications between the United States and China, which China stopped then-House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August 2022. Military communications are very important in case of a misunderstanding in the case when the US and Chinese Navy get engaged in a conflict in the heavily militarised South China Sea.

President Biden said the leader-to-leader talks between China and the United States have also resumed. "He and I agreed that each one of us can pick up the phone call directly and we'll be heard immediately," Biden told reporters after the meeting.

The two leaders also discussed various other topics like Artificial Intelligence, Semiconductor chips, Russia Ukraine War and the Israel-Hamas War and their peaceful resolutions.

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Wednesday he had not changed his view that Chinese President Xi Jinping was effectively a dictator, a comment likely to land with a thud in Beijing after the two leaders held straightforward summit talks.

Biden held a solo news conference after four hours of talks with Xi on the outskirts of San Francisco. At the end of the news conference, he was asked whether he still held the view that Xi was a dictator, something he said in June.

"Look, he is. He's a dictator in the sense that he's a guy who runs a country that is a communist country that's based on a form of government totally different than ours," Biden said.

In response, China's foreign ministry said it "strongly opposes" the remarks, without mentioning Biden by name.

"This statement is extremely wrong and irresponsible political manipulation," foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters on Thursday at a routine briefing.

"It should be pointed out that there will always be some people with ulterior motives who attempt to incite and damage U.S.-China relations, they are doomed to fail."

Mao refused to specify the identity of "some people" in answer to a follow-up question.

Last March Xi clinched a third term as president when nearly 3,000 members of China's rubber-stamp parliament, the National People's Congress, voted unanimously for him in an election in which there was no other candidate.

Xi is considered the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong, after a decade of consolidating power in policy-making and the military and stifling media freedoms.

There was no immediate reaction from the Chinese delegation, which had come to the United States to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco. Hundreds of critics of Beijing marched through the city's downtown around noon, chanting "Free Tibet" and "Free Hong Kong."

When Biden made a similar dictator reference in June, China called the remarks absurd and a provocation. But the spat did not prevent the two sides from holding extensive talks aimed at improving strained relations, which culminated in Wednesday's meeting.