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Xi Jinping informed Joe Biden that China was ready to work with the brand new administration of Donald Trump to handle variations in his closing assembly together with his US counterpart.
The Chinese language and US presidents met on the Asia-Pacific Financial Cooperation discussion board in Lima on Saturday. The Chinese language embassy in Washington mentioned Xi informed Biden that bilateral ties had seen “ups and downs” over the previous 4 years, however the international locations had “engaged in fruitful dialogue and co-operation” and the connection was “secure on the entire”.
“China is able to work with the US authorities to take care of dialogue, develop co-operation and handle variations . . . for the advantage of the 2 peoples,” Xi informed his US counterpart, in keeping with the Chinese language embassy.
Biden informed Xi that the US-China relationship was a very powerful “alliance”, earlier than correcting himself and saying it was the “most essential relationship”, in keeping with remarks recorded by reporters who have been within the room for the preliminary greetings earlier than the beginning of the summit.
“Our two international locations can not let any of this competitors veer into battle,” Biden mentioned in one in every of his inventory phrases when assembly Xi. “Over the previous 4 years I feel we’ve confirmed it’s attainable to have this relationship.”
Relations between the US and China plummeted over the previous 4 years, reaching their lowest degree in a long time when then US Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in 2022 and a Chinese language spy balloon flew over the US final yr. Relations have since stabilised, however the superpowers stay at odds over many points.
The assembly comes two months earlier than Trump will return as president. In latest days, he has named individuals with robust stances on China for prime positions, together with Florida congressman Mike Waltz for nationwide safety adviser and Florida senator Marco Rubio for secretary of state.
However consultants are ready to see if Elon Musk — who has grow to be near Trump and who produces and sells Tesla automobiles in China — will urge the president to take a softer strategy in direction of Beijing.
Whereas Xi repeated his mantra that China needs to have work with the US, he mentioned “main nation competitors shouldn’t be the underlying logic of the occasions”. He additionally pushed again towards the thought of decoupling and US measures to disclaim China superior semiconductor-related applied sciences in what is thought in Washington because the “small yard, excessive fence” coverage.
“‘Small yard, excessive fences’ shouldn’t be what a significant nation ought to pursue,” Xi informed Biden.
The assembly in Lima was the primary between the presidents since they held a summit in San Francisco a yr in the past on the final Apec discussion board.
Bonnie Glaser, a China skilled on the German Marshall Fund, famous that earlier Chinese language readouts about Xi-Biden conferences included references to personal statements by Biden that included reassurances on a lot of points, together with that the US doesn’t help Taiwanese independence.
“China’s readout of the leaders’ summit in Peru ignored these statements — certainly there was no point out of something that Biden mentioned to Xi,” mentioned Glaser. “With Biden leaving workplace, the Chinese language know that these reassurances could not stay US coverage.”
Biden and Xi held bilateral conferences with different Apec leaders forward of their summit on Saturday afternoon, and each males met their Japanese and South Korean counterparts. Xi additionally met his counterparts from New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, and Chile. Biden met Lin Hsin-I, Taiwan’s consultant to the discussion board, who invited the US president to go to Taiwan.
Within the group {photograph} from the summit taken on Saturday, Xi appeared entrance and centre, whereas Biden stood to the aspect. All leaders have been carrying conventional Peruvian vicuña wool scarves, in step with the custom by which contributors sport clothes native to the host nation.
