US President Joe Biden wants to ease tensions between his country and that of Chinese President Xi Jinping, China. To do this, the two heads of state will have a video conference meeting on Monday.
US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will have a video conference meeting on Monday, their third meeting as disputes accumulate between Washington and Beijing which are each displayed firm on their positions on Taiwan as trade or human rights.
The exchange will take place Monday “in the evening” Washington time, early Tuesday in Beijing, the White House said Friday, confirming press reports circulating for several days.
The two men will “discuss ways to responsibly manage competition” between the two powers and how to “work together when our interests meet”, according to a statement from White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki . She says Joe Biden will be “clear and frank about American concerns” vis-à-vis his counterpart, often referred to as the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Tse-tung.
A diplomatic relationship at its lowest
Xi Jinping continues to strengthen his grip on the regime, as evidenced by the adoption Thursday by the Chinese Communist Party of a text which, under the pretext of celebrating the party’s centenary, above all praises the president. The “thought” of the strong man from Beijing “is the epitome of Chinese culture and soul”, one reads in this text, which calls “the Party, the army and the people all to themselves. unite more closely around the Central Committee of which Xi Jinping forms the heart ”.
The two presidents have already called each other twice since the inauguration of Joe Biden. The American president has never hidden his desire to meet the Chinese leader in person, and did not hesitate to criticize his absence during the recent G20 and COP26 summits.
But he must be satisfied with a virtual meeting with Xi Jinping, who has not left China for nearly two years, citing health reasons. The American president, if he rejects the term “cold war” to which he prefers that of “competition” or “confrontation”, has nevertheless made rivalry with Beijing the major axis of his foreign policy.
Relations between Beijing and Washington are at an all-time low on a whole range of subjects, from trade to human rights to China’s regional ambitions, which are pushing Joe Biden to consolidate his regional alliances in Asia.
Maintain “communication channels”
Tensions have escalated further in recent weeks over the fate of Taiwan.
After statements from Joe Biden suggesting that the United States was ready to intervene if China attacks the island, American diplomats have returned to a more classic and subtle line, multiplying the warnings, and insisting on their will. to “dissuade” Beijing from any military intervention.
In this context of high nervousness, Monday’s meeting is in line with Washington’s desire to keep “channels of communication” open at the highest level, after contacts at the ministerial level which have not always gone very well recently.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a telephone interview on Saturday to prepare for the meeting. According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Wang Yi told his counterpart that “the two sides should meet each other halfway” during the meeting between Xi and Biden.
On the American side, it is a question of “laying down the terms of the competition”, Jen Paksi said Friday. If the White House is so keen on establishing a “president-to-president relationship”, according to its spokesperson, it is “not because we are looking for results or concrete decisions, which is not the case”. The United States also insists on the need, when possible, to cooperate with the great Chinese rival.
The two countries, which are also the world’s two leading emitters of greenhouse gases, for example promised this week, in a surprise joint statement, to further fight against global warming. “Our relationship with China is one of the most important and one of the most complex that we have,” Antony Blinken recalled on Friday.
“There are various dimensions: of cooperation, of competition and of confrontation, and we will act on these three aspects simultaneously”, he added, congratulating himself on having observed “some progress” of the China’s share on climate-related issues.
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