Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —
President United States of America, Joe Biden, talk by phone with the President China, Xi Jinping, for the first time in seven months on Thursday (9/9).
The White House said the talks between the leaders of the two rival superpowers were conducted to ensure the tense Sino-US rivalry does not turn into conflict.
“We welcome intense competition but we don’t want it to lead to unwanted conflict,” a senior US official told reporters of Biden and Xi’s talks.
The official said the purpose of the communication was to establish a “guard fence” so that relations between the two countries can be established responsibly amid the increasingly tense relations between the two countries.
“These restrictions include ensuring that US actions are not misinterpreted by China,” the official was quoted as saying AFP.
Biden and Xi’s telephone conversation lasted 90 minutes. Chinese broadcaster CCTV reported that the two leaders’ communication was “deep and forthright” including strategic communication on issues of concern to both countries.
Beijing also said on the occasion that Xi said that the US policy towards China had so far caused serious difficulties in the relationship between the two.
Meanwhile, the White House said the impasse in US-China diplomatic relations could potentially jeopardize relations between the two, thus requiring intervention from both presidents.
Among the long list of disagreements between Beijing and Washington, issues such as China’s aggressiveness toward Taiwan and the South China Sea were the main focus of Biden’s telephone conversation.
Biden was also outraged by China’s decision not to cooperate with research on the origins of the spread of the corona virus.
“And we have not been too satisfied with the behavior of our interlocutors,” the US official added.
US officials accuse China of not wanting to engage in serious or substantive talks.
“We don’t believe that is the way responsible countries take action, especially given the importance of the US-China competition globally,” the official continued.
Despite the lengthy talks, the US official said no concrete decisions had been agreed in Biden and Xi’s communications, including a planned summit between the two presidents.
“This is about keeping the communication between the two open, and ending the cycle of strained relations in the Trump era. Our goal is to really achieve a stable state between the United States and China,” the official added.
Biden and Xi’s communication comes after efforts to improve US-China relations failed at a meeting in Alaska in March. At that time, the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, and top Chinese officials in Alaska even argued and accused each other.
(isa/rds)
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