NUNZIUM

Ahead of the G20, to be held on 15-16 November, US president Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed for more than three hours in Bali, the city hosting the 2022 G20 summit. Their meeting was much waited over as it sets, in large part, the expectations for the upcoming discussions between the G20 nations. The meeting started with a mutually genuine cordiality. It was their first in-person encounter since Biden took office and an opportunity that both sides appeared to hope would lead to an improvement in rapidly deteriorating relations. Xi said during the meeting that the current situation of China-US relations does not conform to the interests of the two countries and their peoples, nor does it conform to the expectations of the international community and that politicians should think about both their own country's development path and how to get along with other countries and the world. Biden said at a news conference that he does “not believe there’s a need for concern of a new Cold War.” He described Xi as not overly confrontational but instead “the way he’s always been: direct and straightforward.” Still, the US president was frank that he and Xi came nowhere near resolving the litany of issues that have helped drive the US-China relationship to its lowest point in decades. Biden raised concerns about human rights and China’s provocations around Taiwan. Xi stated that Taiwan is the “first red line” that “must not be crossed” in China-US relations, according to a Chinese foreign ministry readout. Referring to the “Taiwan question” as the “very core of China’s core interests” and “the bedrock of the political foundation” of China-US relations, Xi stated that peace and stability across the Taiwan strait and “Taiwan independence” is “as irreconcilable as water and fire.” China’s ruling Communist Party has long claimed the self-ruled democracy of 24 million as an inseparable part of its territory, despite having never ruled over it, and has pledged to take it back – by force if necessary. In the meeting, Xi stated that basic norms of international relations and the three Sino-US joint communique – which touch on the Taiwan issue – are the “most important guardrail and safety net” for bilateral relations and are “vitally important” for the two sides to “manage differences and disagreements and prevent confrontation and conflict.” Xi also defended China’s human rights records and governance system, saying that China has a “Chinese-style democracy” that fits its national conditions, according to the readout. He acknowledged the differences between China and the US, but stressed that they should not become “an obstacle to growing China-US relations.” “The Chinese nation has the proud tradition of standing up for itself. Suppression and containment will only strengthen the will and boost the morale of the Chinese people,” the readout said. But they found at least one area of apparent agreement – that nuclear weapons cannot be used in Ukraine, where that nation is trying to fight off a Russian invasion. “President Biden and President Xi reiterated their agreement that a nuclear war should never be fought and can never be won,” a White House readout said, referring to the threat of nuclear weapons use in Ukraine. Biden did underscore areas of potential cooperation with Xi, including on climate change, in talks that stretched past their expected time at a luxury hotel in Bali. And he sought to convince Xi that a nuclear-armed North Korea was not in China’s interests – particularly because further nuclear or long-range missile tests by Pyongyang could prompt Biden to scale up American military presence in the region. “It’s difficult to determine whether or not China has the capacity” to convince Kim Jong Un to back off his tests, Biden said. “I’m confident China is not looking for North Korea to engage in further escalatory means.”