IRIA News

U.S. President Joe Biden met with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on November 14, 2022, in Bali, Indonesia. The two leaders arrived there to participate in the G20 leaders’ summit.

This is the first time that the U.S. president has met Xi Jinping in a face-to-face meeting since taking control of the White House in 2021. The two leaders discussed a wide array of issues related to the U.S.-China bilateral relations as well as Taiwan and Ukraine. The meeting is being termed as an effort to cool down the increasing tensions between the two countries especially related to the Taiwan issue.

The U.S. President held a news conference after attending the meeting. He said that the U.S. would have no choice but to enhance its security position in Asia if Beijing is unable to control North Korea’s weapons development programs threatening the U.S. and its allies.

President Biden said in a tweet that he had a “candid conversation” about U.S. priorities regarding human rights and the international order. He added that both U.S. and China share the responsibility to “show that China and the United States can manage our differences, prevent competition from becoming from anything near conflict and to find ways to work together on urgent global issues that require our mutual cooperation.”

Soon after the meeting, the White House released a statement saying the “two leaders spoke candidly about their respective priorities and intentions across a range of issues.” The statement further said that “President Biden explained that the United States will continue to compete vigorously with the PRC, including by investing in sources of strength at home and aligning efforts with allies and partners around the world.”

U.S. President Biden stressed that the competition between China and the U.S. “should not veer into conflict” as he underscored that the U.S. and China must manage the competition responsibly and maintain open lines of communication.

The White House statement also said that “President Biden raised concerns about PRC practices in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong, and human rights more broadly. On Taiwan, he laid out in detail that our one China policy has not changed, the United States opposes any unilateral changes to the status quo by either side, and the world has an interest in the maintenance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”

China’s President Xi Jinping also released a statement after the meeting through the Chinese ministry of foreign affairs. The statement underscored the importance of the Taiwan issue for a stable U.S.-China relationship. It said that during the meeting, President Xi “stressed that the Taiwan question is at the very core of China’s core interests, the bedrock of the political foundation of China-U.S. relations” he said that it is the “first red line that must not be crossed in China-U.S. relations. Resolving the Taiwan question is a matter for the Chinese and China’s internal affair. It is the common aspiration of the Chinese people and nation to realize national reunification and safeguard territorial integrity.”

The statement further highlighted that “China and the United States are two major countries with different histories, cultures, social systems, and development paths. There have been and will continue to be differences between the two countries. Such differences should not become an obstacle to growing China-U.S. relations. There is always competition in the world, but competition should be about learning from each other to become one’s better self and make progress together, not about taking others down in a zero-sum game.”

Increasing tensions

The U.S.-China relations have been roiled up in recent times due to the growing tensions over a wide range of issues, from Hong Kong to Taiwan, the South China Sea, trade practices, and U.S. restrictions over Chinese technology. The tense political and economic situation between the two countries reached its climax in August this year when U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made a highly controversial trip to the self-governed island of Taiwan.

Pelosi’s trip received a strong reaction from Beijing as China announced several sanctions on her and her immediate family members, suspended cooperation deals with the U.S. on several issues, and conducted a large-scale military drill around Taiwan.

G20 Summit

Leaders from the G20 nations have gathered in Indonesia to participate in the long-awaited and highly anticipated G20 leaders’ summit. The G20 bloc includes a broad array of countries ranging from Brazil to India and Germany. Together the G20 nations account for more than 80% of the world’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 60% of its population.

This year’s G20 summit is highly significant as it would focus on many important issues related to climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on the world economy, the path for economic recovery and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

The summit opens on November 15, 2022, without attendance from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will represent the Russian president at the G20 summit as the Kremlin said that President Putin was too busy to attend the summit.