On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in California, about a year after their previous meeting. The meeting in 2022 took place after two respective complex political campaigns: for Biden, it was the midterm elections in the United States, for Xi, it was the Party Congress where his term was extended. Both leaders then both sought to temper the heated discourse between the two powers and to establish a system of mechanisms for an ongoing positive dialogue. However, a short time later, following the spy balloon incident and the moves that followed, attempts to renew these dialogues were suspended, and in fact there was a disconnect, even if not complete, in the discourse between the powers. In recent months, both sides have tried once again to start creating a more positive atmosphere, and in particular, reciprocal visits by the countries' senior officials have enabled the gradual return of a significant part of these dialogue mechanisms.
In the current meeting, it was agreed to renew the mechanism that is perhaps the most important of all in terms of stability in East Asia, namely, the security dialogue, occurring on several channels, from the senior level to the ground level. Another mechanism that has been renewed is related to the production and distribution of synthetic drugs (such as fentanyl), an important issue at the global level and certainly for the internal problems of the United States. There was also talk of creating an intergovernmental dialogue on AI issues, a matter that has engaged both sides for a long time, with each power presenting its own agenda for this field.
It seems that the security dialogue remains a “card” in China's hands, to allow reference to additional elements that bother it more, for example, the issue of tourism, visits, and visas between the countries, including the number of weekly flights between them. The more challenged the Chinese economy is, the more it needs this connectivity, especially with the United States. In this context, China's desire to remove export restrictions also arose in this conversation.
Many other issues were raised at the meeting, including climate change and Taiwan, but its major importance stems lies in its very occurrence and the creation of more favorable conditions for the overall renewal of talks between the two powers in the future, even if the contents continue to be subject to heated debate.
On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in California, about a year after their previous meeting. The meeting in 2022 took place after two respective complex political campaigns: for Biden, it was the midterm elections in the United States, for Xi, it was the Party Congress where his term was extended. Both leaders then both sought to temper the heated discourse between the two powers and to establish a system of mechanisms for an ongoing positive dialogue. However, a short time later, following the spy balloon incident and the moves that followed, attempts to renew these dialogues were suspended, and in fact there was a disconnect, even if not complete, in the discourse between the powers. In recent months, both sides have tried once again to start creating a more positive atmosphere, and in particular, reciprocal visits by the countries' senior officials have enabled the gradual return of a significant part of these dialogue mechanisms.
In the current meeting, it was agreed to renew the mechanism that is perhaps the most important of all in terms of stability in East Asia, namely, the security dialogue, occurring on several channels, from the senior level to the ground level. Another mechanism that has been renewed is related to the production and distribution of synthetic drugs (such as fentanyl), an important issue at the global level and certainly for the internal problems of the United States. There was also talk of creating an intergovernmental dialogue on AI issues, a matter that has engaged both sides for a long time, with each power presenting its own agenda for this field.
It seems that the security dialogue remains a “card” in China's hands, to allow reference to additional elements that bother it more, for example, the issue of tourism, visits, and visas between the countries, including the number of weekly flights between them. The more challenged the Chinese economy is, the more it needs this connectivity, especially with the United States. In this context, China's desire to remove export restrictions also arose in this conversation.
Many other issues were raised at the meeting, including climate change and Taiwan, but its major importance stems lies in its very occurrence and the creation of more favorable conditions for the overall renewal of talks between the two powers in the future, even if the contents continue to be subject to heated debate.