- Xi stressed China’s commitment to stable China-US relations.
- He expresses his readiness to manage differences with the new American administration.
- Washington remains uneasy about China’s support for Russia.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has pledged to cooperate with the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump.
The Chinese President made this statement during his discussions with outgoing US President Joe Biden, while addressing major issues such as cybercrime, trade relations, Taiwan and Russia.
Biden met with Xi at a hotel where the Chinese leader resides, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum in Lima, Peru, in their first talks in seven months.
Xi said after the election that “China’s goal of establishing a stable, healthy and sustainable relationship between China and the United States has not changed,” acknowledging that there have been “ups and downs” between the two countries.
He added, “China is ready to work with the new US administration to maintain communications, expand cooperation, and manage differences.”
Biden told Xi that the two leaders did not always see eye to eye but that their discussions were “frank” and “candid.”
The talks come two months before Trump takes office. He pledged to adopt comprehensive tariffs of 60% on US imports of Chinese goods as part of the “America First” trade measures package. Beijing opposes these steps. The Republican president-elect also plans to hire several hard-line voices on China to senior positions, including US Senator Marco Rubio as Secretary of State and Representative Mike Waltz as National Security Advisor.
Biden aims to reduce tensions with China, but Washington is angry about the recent China-linked hacking of US government and presidential campaign officials’ phone communications, and is concerned about increased pressure by Beijing on Taiwan and Chinese support for Russia.
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te plans to stop in the US state of Hawaii and possibly the island of Guam in a sensitive visit that is sure to anger Beijing in the coming weeks, Reuters reported on Friday. Meanwhile, former Taiwanese Economy Minister Lin Hsien-ai met with Biden at the summit on Friday and invited him to visit Taiwan in the near future.
China considers democratically ruled Taiwan its territory. The United States is Taiwan’s most important international supporter and arms supplier, despite its lack of formal diplomatic recognition.
Biden also wants to help China with regard to North Korea, whose deepening relations with Russia and the deployment of its forces in the war with Ukraine have raised concerns in Washington.
China’s economic blow
At the same time, Beijing’s economy is taking a hit from Biden’s moves on trade, including a plan to restrict US investment in Chinese artificial intelligence, quantum computing and semiconductors and export restrictions on advanced computer chips. American officials said that all these topics are expected to be addressed in the talks.
China routinely denies US hacking allegations, considers Taiwan an internal matter and has protested US statements about Sino-Russian trade. A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington declined to comment.
“When the two countries treat each other as a partner and friend, seek common ground while putting aside differences and helping each other succeed, our relationship will achieve great progress,” Xi said during his meeting with Biden, according to a simultaneous translation.
“But if we view each other as competitors or adversaries, continue to compete fiercely, and seek to hurt each other, we will spoil the relationship or even set it back.”
Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, on Wednesday described the transition process as “a time when rivals and adversaries can see potential opportunity.” Biden, along with Xi, stresses “the need to maintain stability, clarity, and predictability through this shift between the United States and China.”
Shen Dingli, a Shanghai-based international relations researcher, said China wants the meeting to lead to an easing of tensions during the transition period. “China certainly does not want its relations with the United States to be exposed to a state of turmoil before Trump officially takes office,” Shen said.
Leaders of the Pacific Rim nations gathered at the APEC summit are assessing the implications of Trump’s return to power as US president on January 20. The South American summit provides new signs of the challenges facing US power in its own backyard, where China is present. Magic attack.
Xi, who arrived in Lima on Thursday, plans a week-long diplomatic campaign in Latin America that includes a renewed free trade agreement with Peru and the opening of the huge deep-water port of Chancay there, and will be welcomed in the Brazilian capital next week for an official visit. Visit. China also announced plans to host the APEC summit in 2026.
China is seeking mineral ores, soybeans and other commodities from Latin America, but American officials worry that they may also be looking for new military and intelligence sites adjacent to the United States. Chinese state-backed media described the accusations as slander.
A US official said that Washington’s commitment to the region was strong, and that Chinese investments in infrastructure abroad had declined in recent years due to internal challenges and problems related to projects.
But Ryan Berg, director of the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank in Washington, said Xi would be well received in the region.
He added: “Biden’s trip will clearly be overshadowed by all the things that Xi Jinping will do when he visits your father.”
“When Xi meets with Biden, part of his audience is not — it’s not just the White House or the U.S. government. It’s about American executives and continued American investment or trying to renew American investment in China and get rid of the perception that there’s a hostile hostility.” Business environment in China.