A readout of the call provided by the White House said, “The two leaders had a comprehensive, strategic discussion, in which they discussed areas where our interests meet, and areas where our interests, values and perspectives meet.” are different.” “They agreed to engage openly and directly on both issues. This discussion, as President Biden made clear, is a step forward for the United States to responsibly manage the competition between the United States and the PRC. Was part of the effort.”
According to Chinese state media Xinhua News, Xi told Biden that the US policy towards China has created “serious difficulties” for the countries’ relations.
“If China and the US work together, both countries and the world will benefit; if China and the US confront each other, both countries and the world will suffer. Sino-US relations are not a question of a choice. Whether it needs to be done is fine, but an essential question is how to do it well,” Xi said, as reported by Xinhua.
The Chinese leader said the two countries can continue talks to “promote coordination and cooperation” on issues such as climate change, COVID-19 and other international issues.
During the Biden administration’s first face-off with Chinese officials earlier this year, the two sides traded diplomatic barbs that are rarely displayed in front of cameras. Biden officials said they planned to address areas of deep concern about China’s actions, prompting an aggressive response from Chinese officials.
“We believe that it is really important for the competition to set parameters and railings, and to maintain open lines of communication. But these lower level linkages have not been very useful, and, frankly, we are very satisfied with our Not the behavior of the interlocutors,” the senior official said before the call. “Given this reality, and you know what has been our consistent approach to lines of communication, about responsible management of competition, President Biden understood the importance of directly engaging President Xi on these issues. “
The official said that given Xi’s centralized power, “it is quite likely that engagement at the leader level is really what is needed to get the ball moving.”
When it comes to specific cases of tension between the two countries, the official did not provide a detailed list, but said relations between North Korea and Iran could be discussed in the context of a wider discussion.
The overall goal, the official said, was to reach a “stable state of affairs with the United States and China”. But it will be a long task, given that Biden has framed the US-China contest in recent months as a battle between democracy and autocracy.
On the subject of Afghanistan and the Taliban, the official said the administration did not expect Biden to “specifically ask” China, and after the call, the official would only say that the leaders talked about “global events”.
Biden and Xi are expected to meet at some point, but the official did not expect the call to announce any specific plans.
This story has been updated with additional details from the call.
CNN’s Nikki Carvajal and Zixu Wang in Hong Kong contributed to this report.
.