Biden, Xi renew military ties, fight fentanyl
- November 16, 2023
- 0
US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping agreed on Wednesday to renew high-level military ties and cooperate on counter-drug policy, two major results of their first
US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping agreed on Wednesday to renew high-level military ties and cooperate on counter-drug policy, two major results of their first face-to-face talks in a year.
Biden and Xi met for about four hours outside San Francisco and discussed pressure points that have contributed to the strain in U.S.-China relations.
Beijing said the two leaders agreed to resume military contacts, which China cut off after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August 2022.
Biden has demanded that both countries institutionalize military-to-military talks and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will meet with his Chinese counterpart when his position is appointed, a senior US official said.
Over the past year, the US and Chinese militaries have come close to clashing several times due to various incidents.
Biden and Xi Jinping have agreed to work together to attack the source of the opioid fentanyl, a leading cause of drug overdoses in the United States, Washington said.
Photo: Reuters.
Under the agreement, China will directly target chemical companies that produce fentanyl precursors, a senior U.S. official told reporters.
Xi sought to reassure Biden of Beijing’s intentions regarding the island of Taiwan, which China claims as its territory, saying it has no plans to take military action in the coming years.
However, according to a US official, the Chinese president did lay out the conditions under which the use of force could be used. Biden called on China to respect Taiwan’s election process, the official said.
“FROM LEADER TO LEADER”
Biden greeted the Chinese leader at the Filoli estate, a country house and gardens 30 miles south of San Francisco, where they would later move to Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum summit (APEC).
Biden said the US and China must ensure that competition between them “does not escalate into conflict” and manage your relationships “responsibly” He said issues such as climate change, drug control and artificial intelligence required their joint attention.
After the morning talks and before lunch with Xi, Biden said on social media:
“There are critical global challenges that require our shared leadership. And today we have made concrete progress,” he said, without providing details.
After lunch, the rulers took a short walk together through the mansion’s manicured gardens after a conversation that lasted about four hours. Biden greeted reporters and gave a thumbs up when asked how negotiations were going. “Okay,” he said.
The White House statement said the leaders “had frank and constructive discussions on a range of bilateral and global issues and exchanged views on differences.”
Photo: Reuters.
At the start of the talks, Xi told Biden that a lot had happened since their last meeting. a year ago in Bali. “The world has recovered from the COVID pandemic, but is still suffering from its enormous consequences. “The global economy is recovering, but its pace remains slow.”
The president called the relationship between the United States and China “the most important bilateral relationship in the world” and said he and Biden “take great responsibility for two peoples, for the world and for history.”
“For two big countries like China and the US, turning their backs on each other is not an option,” he said. “It is impossible for one side to change the other, and conflicts and confrontations have intolerable consequences for both sides.”
The two rulers are trying to reduce their differences, but deep progress on resolving the huge differences that divide them may have to wait.
Leaders of the 21-nation APEC group, as well as hundreds of executives, are meeting in San Francisco for a relatively China’s economic weaknessBeijing’s territorial disputes with its neighbors and the conflict in the Middle East that separates the United States from its allies.
Reuters: Trevor Hunnicutt, David Brunnstrom and Jeff Mason.
Source: Aristegui Noticias
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