Biden and Xi held a "broad, strategic conversation" in their first meeting since February, according to the White House late Thursday.
Biden Initiated their First Call Since February
In a recently published article in FOX News, a White House official said that Pres. Joe Biden initiated the call towards his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. The call was made to ensure that both countries will not have any forms of conflict amid the tensions they face in different issues.
Officials from the Biden administration have been in tight bilateral discussions with Beijing for months, despite years of strained relations between the two countries. Officials said Biden's goal on the conversation was to establish guardrails for healthy competition rather than to seek results or agreements.
The official said, "Biden knows history will judge both leaders in how they manage this competition and takes this seriously. While we remain in a competitive space, we don't want that to veer into conflict," He also acknowledged that the U.S. is in a competitive posture against China, according to a published article in MSN News.
The Two Leaders Talked Over Phone For Approximately 90 Minutes
According to a senior administration official, the call's tone, which lasted about 90 minutes and was taken from the president's home within the White House, was familiar and honest, as it had been in previous discussions between the two leaders.
The discussion was "wide-ranging," according to the source, and touched on various global problems. According to the person, Biden and Xi spoke about how important it is for the two leaders to have private talks, Newstral reports.
Furthermore, the official emphasized the significance of open lines of communication, the opportunity to debate where interests converge and ideals divide, and the capacity to engage on both sets of problems openly and straightforwardly," breaking down the guardrails and limits put forth by Biden.
Disagreements of the U.S. and China
Both nations disagree on several important topics, one of which is human rights and democracy. The United States accuses China of genocide against the Uighur people in the Xinjiang region. It also claims that Beijing is infringing on Hong Kong's democratic rights through a newly enacted security legislation, which opponents claim is being used to suppress dissent.
Meanwhile, China has frequently warned the United States to stay out of its domestic affairs, accusing Washington of "smearing" the governing Communist Party. China is also retaliating against what it perceives as U.S. naval intrusion in the South China Sea, which it regards as Chinese territory.
In a published article on Sioux County Radio, one of their main points of contention is the conflict in Afghanistan. Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin criticized the U.S. departure from Afghanistan earlier this week, claiming that their soldiers had "wreaked havoc." He also accused the United States of causing severe harm to the Afghan people.
Needless to say, since Biden's first conversation with Xi as president in February, another senior administration official told a news outlet that the Biden administration has engaged with Chinese officials in "several settings," but that those Chinese officials have not been serious about diplomatic engagement, but rather "propaganda."
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