On Saturday, November 16, US President Biden met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. This was Biden’s last meeting before leaving office. Although the goal of the Biden-Xi meeting was to ease tensions between the two countries, this goal was challenged by issues such as cybercrime, trade, Taiwan, and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Biden and Xi Jinping met at a hotel where Xi was staying in Lima, Peru, during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. This was the first meeting between the two leaders in seven months.
Biden said that the two leaders do not always see eye to eye, but both sides engaged in “frank” and “candid” discussions.
According to Xinhua, Xi Jinping acknowledged that despite the ups and downs in the past four years, the overall stability of US-China relations has been maintained.
Although Xi did not mention Trump by name, he stated that China is willing to maintain communication with the new US government and strive for a smooth transition in US-China relations.
The meeting between the two leaders took place against the backdrop of ongoing tensions between the two countries.
Recently, phone communications of US government officials and President-elect campaign team members were hacked by individuals connected to China, which angered Washington. At the same time, Beijing’s increasing pressure on Taiwan and its support for Russia have raised concerns for the Biden administration.
Reuters reported on Friday that Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te plans to visit diplomatic allies in the Pacific region in the coming weeks, with stops planned in Hawaii and Guam. Both Hawaii and Guam are important US military bases. Meanwhile, Biden met with Taiwan representative Lin Hsin-yi attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Lin invited Biden to visit Taiwan in the future.
With North Korea deepening its ties with Russia and deploying North Korean soldiers to Russia, Biden also hopes for Beijing to exert pressure on North Korea.
Simultaneously, the Chinese economy is being heavily impacted by Biden’s trade measures, including restrictions on US investments in Chinese artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and semiconductors, as well as export restrictions on high-end computer chips. US officials have indicated that all of these issues are expected to be addressed in the talks.