The talks between Xi Jinping and Joe Biden do not herald the thaw

On November 16, Beijing was bathed in golden sunlight. President Xi Jinping had a video call with US President Joe Biden for more than three hours. After months of tension, virtual meetings should have shown that their country could manage disputes and avoid a spiral of confrontation.

The speeches of the two leaders coincided with mild weather. Xi Jinping called Biden an old friend and said that the two had traveled and talked for several hours together in 2011, when they both served as vice presidents. President Xi said that I would like to work with Mr. Chairman to build consensus and take active measures to promote the development of Sino-US relations in a positive direction.

Chinese state media announced approvingly that Mr. Biden has provided assurances on the most disturbing point in the bilateral relationship. It is worth noting that he reiterated the United States’ long-standing position that the United States does not support the independence of Taiwan Island, and China claims that Taiwan Island is Taiwan Island. According to China’s reading, Mr. Biden also praised China’s 5,000-year history, declared that his government does not seek to change China’s government system, and emphasized that the purpose of the United States to strengthen its global alliance is not to oppose China.For months, Chinese censors have tolerated online mockery of Mr. Biden as flattery shui wangOr the king of sleep, easy to nap during meetings, the official media released side-by-side photos of Mr. Biden and Mr. Xi Jinping smiling and waving at each other online.

As far as the White House is concerned, it describes a pragmatic meeting. It quoted Mr. Biden as saying to his colleagues: As leaders of China and the United States, our responsibility is to ensure that the competition between our two countries does not turn to conflict, whether intentionally or unintentionally. U.S. officials are aware that domestic political opponents are eager to accuse Biden of appeasement or endless negotiations. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan aptly described Mr. Biden’s confrontation with Xi Jinping on human rights, unfair trade practices, and bullying against Taiwan. Mr. Sullivan said at a post-meeting briefing at the Brookings Institution in Washington that Mr. Biden urged Mr. Xi Jinping to send high-level and powerful officials to the meeting to make progress on pressing issues, not to engage in dialogue for the sake of dialogue. Biden suggested that suitable topics include Afghanistan, trade, climate change, energy security, public health, and the nuclear programs of North Korea and Iran.

Video calls are a far cry from the traditional summit of US-China leaders. Before such incidents, officials debated concessions, promises, and deals for months. These concessions, promises, and deals were so sensitive that only the top leaders could do these things. Since Xi Jinping has not left China or met with foreign leaders since the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic, this inconclusive meeting held online is considered a moderate breakthrough, and it fully illustrates the terrible state of relations.

According to people familiar with its contents, Xi Jinping was surprisingly irritable when talking on the phone with Biden in early September. In that conversation, Xi Jinping privately practiced the same argument made by officials in public, that the United States is committed to containing China’s rise and is responsible for all current tensions. The second part of the argument is that President Donald Trump is a bad leader, but Mr. Biden is still the same or worse, because as a more rational politician, he should know better. When Mr. Sullivan met with Xi Jinping’s Supreme Foreign Policy Assistant Yang Jiechi in Switzerland on October 6, China sent a more moderate signal. Western and Chinese sources said that Mr. Yang explained that China will seek a calm external environment in 2022 to avoid damaging events including the Beijing Winter Olympics and the year-end party congress in February. Xi Jinping is expected to start the first session at the meeting. The term of office of the three party committee secretaries.

At this moment of low trust, Biden and Xi Jinping can be said to be the only US and Chinese officials who can engage in substantive discussions. Their video chat is better than nothing, but it is worryingly limited. When it comes to sustainable coexistence, the two are far apart. Mr. Biden said that the United States and China are caught in fierce competition and must be managed responsibly. Chinese officials call this framework too negative. They prefer to talk about relationships based on mutual respect and common interests: realist American norms, realizing that it has no choice but to adapt to China’s authoritarian and nationalist approach.

China’s grand plan for world peace: the United States no longer defies China
Biden is considered a more pragmatic president in China than his predecessor. Alas, scholars and the official media regard his willingness to talk as an acknowledgement of the failure of the United States. According to China, inflation in the United States is related to trade tariffs imposed by Trump (although inflation is recent and the tariffs have been implemented for three years). Chinese analysts blamed another complex problem, the chaos in the supply chain, on a simple reason: the Trump era tried to prevent the export of semiconductors and other advanced technologies to China, and at the same time urged companies to move their factories out of China. Wang Yong, director of the Center for American Studies at Peking University, said that because the US economy is now in a bleak state, the Biden administration needs to ease relations with China in order to improve its domestic political status. Professor Wang added that the United States is losing the hearts of young Chinese people, who have given up the sincere illusions that the West expresses concerns about Muslims in Xinjiang or democrats in Hong Kong.

Chinese leaders still want Western investment and technology, but they believe that it is declining and delinking from Western norms and ideas. A video call cannot begin to resolve the relationship in crisis. Mid-November often brings sunshine to Beijing, but this kind of sunshine will not last. In China’s ancient twelve season calendar, the following freezing periods are called light snow and heavy snow. The relationship with the United States is also facing a similar ice age.