Xi Jinping’s U.S. Visit

Eman Nawab

The Chinese president, Xi Jinping arrived in the United States of America on November 16th. This is his first visit in six long years and the first face-to-face meeting between the Presidents in a year. Biden hosted Xi on the sidelines of the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Summit. They met in the city of San Francisco. The aim was to reduce the rising tensions in their relations. The relations got a little muddy after The China Spy Ballon incident. The US shot it down suspecting it to be a Chinese spying technique in February of this year. Analysts however are of the view that the meeting ended with no significant outcomes or diplomatic breakthroughs. Moreover, just after the talks, Biden called Xi a dictator.

The meeting, however, started on a friendly note with the leaders of the two countries taking a walk together and sharing jokes. Biden also reminded Xi to give his wife a birthday card as the date was four days later. Later, Xi invited Biden to look at his car which the US president admired. However, this was believed to be a part of image-making to the world.

Moving on to the agendas of the meeting in mind of both the leaders. It will be discussed later, how much of those aims were addressed and agreed upon in the meeting. The first and most important aim was to resume military ties between the nations. Secondly, Taiwan was to be a topic of concern mainly the US asking China to avoid military confrontation and conflict in the region. Moreover, Biden would express concern over North Korean missile tests and Biden was to press Xi to use his influence on North Korea in this regard. Another important topic on the agenda was The Israel-Hamas War and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Furthermore, Biden would ask Xi to use China’s increasing influence in Iran to avoid a greater conflict in West Asia. Discussions on stabilizing trade and managing supply chains were also on the agenda. Lastly, dialogue on the role and expansion of Artificial Agency and a crackdown on companies producing Fentanyl (a synthetic opioid drug) were to be addressed.

Xi and Biden were said to meet for four long hours. The conversation revolved around a lot on the topic of Taiwan which is considered the biggest difference between them. In recent times the threat of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan has increased with China carrying out dangerous drills near the Island. Xi said, “he wants peaceful reunification but would use force under certain conditions.” The conditions however were not made clear. He asked Biden to stop military aid to support Taiwan. With upcoming elections in Taiwan, Biden has asked Xi to not interfere.

The next biggest concern was trade. Biden has restricted American investments in China which Xi Jinping believes damages their country’s interests. This is a major concern for China as its growth rate has slowed and unemployment in the country has surged. However, America has still not given any relief to the sanctions only agreeing to expand the dialogue.

Xi has also offered to send a pair of pandas to the US as a token of goodwill. However, the lack of trust is quite evident in both the leader’s statements as they both know they are competitors.
The US and China have decided to resume military dialogue. Their defense ministers will also hold a meeting in the future. This does not seem likely as the Chinese defense minister was sacked last month on charges of corruption and a new one is yet to be announced.

There were talks of a deal on Artificial Intelligence in the agenda but such a deal did not happen. The risk of escalation of conflict in West Asia was also discussed. The US forces are under attack in Iraq and Syria. Hence Biden asked Xi to talk to Iran and Chinese officials giving a positive response said they would engage in talks with Iran.

Now the question arises if the meeting was a success and to what extent. This mainly depends on how much of the topics on the agenda were addressed and both the party’s responses to it. What made all of this a complicated scenario was when Biden almost ruined all the efforts invested in the meeting. After the talks, during a conversation with the press, he was asked a question if Xi Jinping was a dictator. Refraining from answering this question would have been an effective strategy, however, Biden agreed with the statement calling Xi a dictator. The reaction to this statement by America’s top diplomat Antony Blinken has gone viral. He flinched when Biden called his Chinese counterpart a dictator because he knew how this could have derailed everything.

China responded to this statement calling it “an incorrect and irresponsible political manipulation”. It also said that ‘some ill-intentioned Individuals want to damage the Sino-US relations but they will not succeed.’ This showed that China was still very much interested in upholding the matters agreed upon during the talks because Xi and his communist party needed more economic investments in the country to keep their power intact.

The author is a student of Peace and Conflict Studies.