Biden and Chinese Xi discuss handling competition, avoiding disputes on appeal

WASHINGTON, Sept. 9 (Reuters) – US President Joe Biden spoke by phone with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping for about 90 minutes on Thursday, a senior US official said, with the two leaders discussing the need to avoid leaving the competition between the two largest economies in the world tip into conflict.

Relations between Washington and Beijing are at their lowest in decades and this was only the second call between the leaders since Biden took office in January.

A White House statement said the two leaders had had “a broad strategic discussion” including “areas where our interests converge and areas where our interests, values ​​and perspectives diverge.”

The conversation focused on economic issues, climate change and COIVD-19, the senior US official said.

Chinese state media said the conversation was “frank” and “in-depth,” adding that President Xi said US policy towards China places great difficulties on the relationship between the two.

The Chinese report added that the two sides agreed to maintain frequent contact and ask the work teams to increase communications.

Occasional high-level meetings since Xi and Biden’s first appeal in February have resulted in little progress on a multitude of issues, from climate change to human rights and transparency into the origins of COVID-19 . Read more

In the months that followed, the two sides attacked each other almost constantly, often resorting to vitriolic public attacks, inflicting sanctions on their respective leaders and blaming each other for failing to meet their international obligations.

President Biden underscored the United States’ enduring interest in peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific and the world and the two leaders discussed the responsibility of the two nations to ensure that competition does not conflict, “the statement said.

The Biden administration, concerned about a chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, signaled that ending the U.S. ‘longest war would give U.S. political and military leaders the space to focus on more threats. urgent issues arising from the rapid rise of China. Read more

But Beijing was quick to seize the US failure in Afghanistan to try to portray the US as an inconstant partner, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said last month that Washington should not s ‘expect China’s cooperation on this or other issues if it also tries to “contain and suppress” China. Read more

Reporting by David Brunnstrom, Michael Martina and Eric Beech; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore

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