Xi-Biden meeting sets course for further initiatives to stabilize bilateral ties, observers say

President Xi Jinping and United States President Joe Biden meet on Nov 15, 2023 at Filoli, a historic estate south of San Francisco, California. (FENG YONGBIN / CHINA DAILY)

The landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Joe Biden last week in California has been hailed as positive and successful, with analysts saying the dialogue at the highest level sets the course for stabilization of ties between the world’s two largest economies.

On Nov 15, the two heads of state held their first face-to-face talks in a year, in a summit held at Filoli Garden, a bucolic Northern California estate south of San Francisco. They spent more than four hours on meetings, a working lunch and a garden walk. They last met in Bali, Indonesia, on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in November 2022.

Key outcomes of the latest summit include agreements to step up counternarcotics cooperation, jointly tackle the climate crisis, resume high-level military-to-military communication and expand educational, student, youth, cultural, sports and business exchanges.

Biden called the talks in Filoli among the “most constructive and productive discussions” the two leaders have had.

During the meeting, Xi laid out the five pillars of China-US relations, urging both sides to develop a right perception of each other, effectively manage their differences, jointly advance mutually beneficial cooperation, shoulder responsibilities together as major countries and forge stronger people-to-people exchanges.

“It’s a win for US-China relations from a larger, broader stabilization perspective,” Sourabh Gupta, a senior fellow at the Institute for China-America Studies in Washington, told China Daily in an interview.

Their willingness to restore military communications shows that both sides wish to rebuild confidence in interactions, he said.

“There is nothing more important than to keep communications going on between our two countries,” said Scott Rozelle, faculty co-director of the Stanford Center on China’s Economy and Institutions in California.

“(On Nov 15), our top leaders took an important step forward to continue to discuss the concerns of each country and find ways to collaborate. I believe the decision to keep our militaries meeting and communicating is an important metric of success.”

Both sides need to do more in areas such as scholarly exchanges, business exchanges and people-to-people interaction, Rozelle said. “But today was a good start.”

Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister and a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said at a media briefing in San Francisco following the Xi-Biden meeting that the summit can steer Sino-US ties toward “a healthy, stable and sustainable direction”.

The dialogue showcased the positive intentions of both sides and achieved significant outcomes, Wang said, adding that it will “play a crucial role in guiding” the course of bilateral relations going forward.

Wang Mingming, president of the US-China E-commerce Trade Association, said optimistic signals from the presidents’ meeting are expected to catalyze growth and development of businesses in both countries.

“Furthermore, the cooperation is anticipated to extend beyond their borders, invigorating the economic and trade prospects of countries along the Belt and Road Initiative,” Wang Mingming said.

Jim Young, board chairman of the Washington State China Relations Council, voiced hopes for the future, while cherishing the long history of trade and engagement between Washington state and China.

“While we are all celebrating this historic meeting on Nov 15 ... in San Francisco, our hope is that, another 200 years later, our descendants could take the same pride in telling their stories about their ancestors today trying to together make the world better,” Young said.

At a dinner speech on Nov 15, Xi mentioned historic China-US stories, from the Chinese workers who were the mainstay of building the US Pacific Railroad a century ago to the pandas that were the “ambassadors” of US-China friendship for decades.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in his media briefing in San Francisco, said the five pillars laid out by Xi for ties, during talks with Biden, have opened up a vision for the future of China-US relations.

President Xi noted that the two countries should jointly develop a right perception, jointly manage disagreements effectively and appreciate each other’s principles and red lines, jointly advance mutually beneficial cooperation, jointly shoulder responsibilities as major countries and jointly promote people-to-people exchanges.

“San Francisco should not be the terminus, but a new starting point,” the minister said, adding that both sides should strive to keep improving and developing bilateral ties, in alignment with the interests and aspirations of the people of both countries as well as expectations of the world.

He said the warm interactions between Xi and representatives from various US sectors “made us feel keenly that the foundation of China-US friendship is still intact, the impetus for engagement persists and the prospects for cooperation are promising”.

However, the key to consolidating the positive momentum in relations lies in Washington honoring its commitments and meeting Beijing halfway in realizing the key consensuses reached by the leaders, Wang Yi added.

Colin Mackerras, a sinologist and emeritus professor at Griffith University in Australia, pointed to well-grounded reasons for optimism over the China-US leaders’ first face-to-face talks in a year.

First, Mackerras said it is good to hold such a meeting at all. Second, the atmosphere, from what he saw, was friendly and positive. Third, the content was quite positive. And fourth, there were some agreements and practical actions from the meeting, such as on the environment and cultural exchange.

Mackerras said President Xi was quite right in his remarks that the world is big enough for both US and China to succeed, hence any “competition should be manageable and not aimed at blocking China’s rise”.

During their talks, the two presidents put forward guiding principles on the most prominent issues between the two sides, such as properly managing differences and strengthening dialogue and cooperation.

Jose Felix Valdivieso, chairman of IE China Center at IE University in Spain, said the face-to-face summit is good news for the whole world. “A smooth relationship between China and the US means a smoother relationship for the world,” he said.

Saud Faisal Malik, editor-in-chief of the Observer Diplomat magazine in Pakistan, said that while the meeting may not lead to a complete reset of relations, the two presidents seized the chance “to establish the foundation for a future marked by collaboration, comprehension and mutual achievements”.

Keith Bennett, co-editor of Friends of Socialist China and a London-based senior analyst on international affairs, said Xi traveled to San Francisco as a peacemaker and as a responsible statesman and visionary leader concerned not only for his country, but the world.

“It is essential to stabilize the relations between the US and China, prevent further deterioration and look for ways and areas for cooperation to the mutual benefit of the two countries and all humanity,” Bennet said. “Climate change is a key example and with the Dubai summit coming up, the agreement here is very welcome.”

Daniel Kammen, a professor of energy at the University of California, Berkeley, said it is important for the US and China to restart not just talking about environmental cooperation, but also launch agreements to which other countries can sign up.

One of the key goals is the commitment to help all countries, not just the US and China, triple the amount of renewables employed by 2030, Kammen said.

Some analysts highlighted the significance of Xi’s speech at the dinner hosted by friendly organizations in the US, in which he underlined the significance of people-to-people exchanges between the two nations.

Gupta, from the Washington-based Institute for China-America Studies, said it was “very politically wise” that Xi chose to use the occasion to speak to the “much larger American public” than just business leaders.

Gupta believes that Xi “deliberately chose not to speak to the elites, but … speak to all the American people and make the case directly that people-to-people (exchange) is what sustained China ties before and… will sustain China ties going forward”.

Xi also put forward major proposals as he joined the economic leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum for a two-day meeting, during which a leaders’ declaration was issued. The declaration reaffirmed the APEC mission to build an open, dynamic, resilient and peaceful Asia-Pacific community by 2040, and to advance economic integration in the region.

At the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting, Xi highlighted the need to reject any attempt to politicize, weaponize or impose security implications on economic and trade issues, while pledging unwavering efforts to promote regional economic integration and accelerate the building of a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific.

Zhu Feng, dean of the School of International Studies at Nanjing University, said Xi’s speech not only served as a timely wake-up call for APEC members against acts that sow discord and allow geopolitical alliances to form in the region, it also provided a direction for the region’s future development in alignment with the shared interests of countries in the region.

Lai Jiang and Chang Jun in California contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at yifanxu@chinadailyusa.com