Biden-Xi meeting

THE three-hour-long meeting between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of the G20 summit has heralded a much-needed thaw in relations between the two superpowers. Amid the prolonged Russia-Ukraine war and the global food and energy crisis, any attempt to reduce tensions is welcome. The two leaders have pledged ‘more frequent communications’, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken scheduled to visit Beijing for follow-up talks. America-China ties had hit a new low earlier this year after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August despite Chinese warnings. Differences still persist over Taiwan, which Xi Jinping has called the ‘first red line’ that must not be crossed in US-China relations. Biden has sought to assure Xi that America’s Taiwan policy — somehow supporting both Beijing’s ‘One China’ stand and Taiwan’s military — has not changed.

The Biden-Xi talks have allayed fears of the international community about the onset of a new Cold War. Both the US and China — India’s biggest trading partners — are going through a rough patch on the economic front. The tight restrictions imposed by China under its zero-Covid policy have adversely impacted factory output and consumer spending. The forecasts of China’s annual growth have been revised to as low as 3 per cent — among the worst in decades. Slightly better placed, the US economy is struggling to ward off recession. America’s GDP grew by 0.6 per cent in the July-September quarter after two consecutive quarters of contraction. The domestic and global headwinds make it imperative for China and the US to strengthen bilateral cooperation and show the way to other nations to overcome food and energy shortages.

Biden has made it clear that the US is not looking for conflict; the focus is on ‘managing the competition (with China) responsibly.’ However, America’s keenness on enhancing its military presence in the region, particularly the South China Sea, keeps alive the possibility of an armed confrontation. Rather than stepping on each other’s toes, these two influential nations should spearhead efforts to expedite the end of the Ukraine war through dialogue and restore normal operations of global supply chains.