Joe Biden has said he does not believe China has any “imminent” plans to invade Taiwan, but objected to its “coercive and increasingly aggressive actions” toward the island in his first in-person meeting with Xi Jinping since they became leaders.
Speaking after they met on Monday at a luxury resort hotel in Bali, Indonesia, where they are attending the G20 summit, Biden said he and the Chinese leader had been “candid and clear” with each other on subjects ranging from Taiwan to trade.
The meeting, which lasted more than three hours, was seen as an attempt to reduce tensions that have brought US-China relations to their lowest ebb in decades.
Biden said he “absolutely believes” that a new cold war with China can be avoided, adding that he did not believe there was any “imminent attempt on the part of China to invade Taiwan”.
“I made it clear that our policy on Taiwan has not changed at all,” Biden, who was nursing a mild cold, told reporters. “It’s the same exact position we have always had. I made it clear that I want to see cross-strait issues peacefully resolved so that it never has to come to that. I’m convinced that he understood exactly what I was saying, and I understood what he was saying.”
He added: “We oppose unilateral changes in the status quo by either side and we are committed to maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
“It was also clear that the United States and China should be able to work together where we can. To solve global challenges requires every nation to do its part. We discussed Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and reaffirmed our shared belief that the threat or use of nuclear weapons is totally unacceptable.”
The leaders said they would “empower key senior officials” on areas of potential cooperation, including tackling the climate crisis, and maintaining global financial, health and food stability. It was not immediately clear whether that meant China would agree to restart climate change talks it had paused in protest at a controversial visit to Taiwan by the US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, in August.
Biden said he would ask the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, to travel to China to follow up on his discussions with Xi and keep the lines of communication open.
Xi told Biden that the Taiwan question was “at the very core of China’s core interests, the bedrock of the political foundation of China-US relations, and the first red line that must not be crossed in China-US relations”, according to an account published by the Xinhua news agency.
The Chinese summary said the talks had been “thoroughgoing, frank and constructive”, adding that officials from both governments would build on areas of consensus between the two sides, and promote the return of China-US relations to a “stable track of development”.
Biden and Xi, who have known each other for more than a decade, greeted each other with a handshake in front of a row of Chinese and US flags. “It’s just great to see you,” Biden told Xi, as he put an arm around him.
“We had an open and candid conversation about our attentions and our priorities,” Biden said after the meeting. “He was clear and I was clear that we will defend American interests and values, promote universal human rights, stand up for the international order, and work in lockstep with our allies and partners.
“We are going to compete vigorously, but I am not looking for conflict; I am looking to manage this competition responsibly. I want to make sure that every country abides by the international rules of the road.”
Biden, however, brought up a number of difficult topics, including raising objections to Chinese aggression towards Taiwan, as well as Beijing’s “non-market economic practices”, and its human rights record in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong.
“We were very blunt with one another about places where we disagreed or where we were uncertain of each other’s position,” Biden said.
Reports said that a member of the Chinese delegation yanked and shoved a US journalist as she tried to ask about human rights at the start of the meeting.
When the journalist, a producer for a US TV network, asked Biden if he would raise human rights with Xi, an unidentified man from the Chinese delegation, wearing a Covid mask with a Chinese flag on it, pulled her backwards by her backpack, making her lose balance, according to Agence France-Presse. He then started to push her towards the door before two White House staff members intervened, saying she should be left alone.
The summit was the leaders’ first face-to-face meeting since Biden took office in January 2021, and comes amid rising tensions over Taiwan, a self-governing democracy that China claims as its territory and has vowed to “reunify”, by force if necessary.
China drew widespread criticism in August after it held military drills off the coast of Taiwan in an angry response to a visit to the island by the US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi. In September, Biden said US forces would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion, drawing another angry response.
Relations between the superpowers have been marred by growing tensions over issues ranging from Hong Kong and Taiwan to the South China Sea, coercive trade practices and US restrictions on Chinese technology.
Monday’s meeting was the culmination of dozens of hours of discussions between US and Chinese officials over the past couple of months. Biden has held five phone and video calls with Xi since the beginning of 2021 – most recently in September – but Monday’s talks were their first in person since 2017, when Biden was vice-president to Barack Obama. The last US president Xi met in person was Donald Trump, in 2019.
Earlier on Monday, Biden announced investments in Indonesia after a summit with the country’s president, Joko Widodo. Describing Indonesia as a “critical partner”, Biden also said the two countries would collaborate to “protect our people” from Covid-19.
The investments span areas such as the climate emergency and food security, and include a $2.5bn carbon capture agreement between ExxonMobil and the Indonesian state-owned energy company, Pertamina.
The partnership “will enable key industry sectors to decarbonise”, a White House statement said, adding that it would lower carbon emissions, ensure economic opportunities for Indonesian workers, and help Indonesia achieve its net zero ambitions in 2060 or sooner.
Agencies contributed reporting.
