Biden, on appeal with Chinese Xi Jinping, puts in “safeguards” to ensure “competition does not degenerate into conflict”

President Biden spoke by telephone with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday evening, with the aim of establishing “safeguards and parameters” in the U.S.-China relationship to ensure that although the two countries are in “fierce competition”, they do not “see in conflict”. senior officials in the Biden administration have said.

The White House said Thursday evening that Biden and Xi had a “broad strategic discussion in which they discussed areas where our interests converge and areas where our interests, values ​​and perspectives diverge.”

“They have agreed to engage on both sets of issues openly and directly,” the White House said.

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Biden “made it clear” that the discussion was “part of the United States’ continued efforts to responsibly manage competition between the United States and the PRC,” the statement said, using the abbreviation of the People’s Republic of China.

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 degenerate into conflict, ”the White House said.

“Wide” call

A senior administration official said the tone of the call, which lasted around 90 minutes and the president took from his residence inside the White House, was familiar and outspoken as conversations took place. held in the past between the two leaders. The official added that the conversation was “high-profile”, touching on a number of global issues.

The official said Biden and Xi discussed the importance for the two leaders to be able to have private conversations.

The official, breaking down the “safeguards and parameters” defined by Biden, explained the importance of open lines of communication, the ability to discuss points of convergence of interests and divergent values, and the ability to engage on both sets of these questions “openly and frankly.”

“This is what we think is important in terms of the management of the competition,” said the official, maintaining the importance “of being clear on priorities and intentions so that they are not misinterpreted.”

“These are the kinds of principles that we think guardrails should be built on – these are the things the president has in mind,” the official said.

“We were not satisfied”

When asked if Biden raised the issue of the coronavirus and the origins of the pandemic with Xi, the official did not provide details, but noted that the two had discussed a “range of transnational issues where we both have interests and the global pandemic is one of them. ”

Another senior administration official told Fox News that the Biden administration has engaged with Chinese officials in “multiple settings” since Biden’s first conversation as president with Xi in February, but claimed that these Chinese officials had “not taken the diplomatic engagement seriously,” but rather “the propaganda.”

“We do not believe this is the way responsible nations act, given the global importance of US-Chinese competition,” the official said, adding that the administration continues to believe in the importance of maintaining “open lines of communication”.

“The lower lines of engagement had not been successful,” said the official. “We have not been satisfied so far.”

“Their hard-line rhetoric is not working,” the official added. “The hard-line approach taken by the Xi administration will not work for us or our allies.”

“Their hard-line rhetoric is not working. The hard-line approach taken by the Xi administration will not work for us or our allies.”

– Biden administration official

The official went on to stress the importance of Biden’s call with Xi, saying commitment at the “leader level” is “what is needed to move the ball forward.”

“That’s why Biden made the call,” the official said.

Tense discussions

Officials in the Biden administration have been engaged in tense bilateral talks with Beijing for months, amid years of torn relations between the United States and China.

Biden, on the call, was not looking for outcomes or deals, officials said, but instead sought to establish “safeguards for healthy competition.”

“Biden knows history will judge the two leaders on how they handle this competition and take it seriously,” the official said.

“Biden knows history will judge the two leaders on how they handle this competition and take it seriously.”

– Biden administration official

“Although we remain in a competitive space, we do not want this to escalate into conflict,” added the official, acknowledging that the United States is in a “competitive posture with China.”

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“It is the dominant framework of this relationship,” said the official.

Historically, the official explained, there has been a “binary” relationship between the United States and China.

“We are either in a period of engagement or in a period of confrontation with China,” the official said.

“That’s not where we are anymore,” the official said, adding that the Biden administration believes “the goal” should be “to achieve a stable state of affairs.”

“We should be in a rigid and competitive position, but where we can do a lot of things at once,” the official said, stressing that China is responsible for its practices and protects the interests and values ​​of the United States. and their allies. .

Beijing’s behavior

As for areas where Beijing’s behavior is problematic or destabilizing, the official said the leaders would have “frank and in-depth” discussions.

“We will work with China when interests align, and we will emphasize that this is how we believe competition can be conducted responsibly,” the official said.

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Returning on Biden’s February call with Xi, the president outlined his administration’s main concerns about China’s “aggressive practices, activities and abuses”. Biden, at the time, signaled a “clear and consistent adherence to American values” and identified a number of areas in which he believed the United States and China could work together.

The Biden administration has since warned that China has “quickly become more assertive” and “is the only competitor potentially capable of combining economic, diplomatic, military and technological might to launch a sustained challenge to a stable and open international system. . “

The Biden administration in recent months has also focused on China’s lack of transparency regarding the international investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.