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Biden and Xi ‘should meet early’ to work out US-China differences
- Back-door diplomat John Thornton recommends trade talks model of high level meetings to work through issues
- Coronavirus pandemic would be a good place to start, he says
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Washington and Beijing should work out their different issues in a face-to-face fashion, similar to the rounds of trade talks, according to American businessman John Thornton, who for decades has been a key player in US-China back-door diplomacy.
Thornton, chairman of the board of trustees at the Brookings Institution, said president-elect Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping should also get together as soon as possible.
“They should meet early in the new American administration in person, for a personal reconnecting,” Thornton said at a webinar hosted by the Centre for China and Globalisation, a Beijing based-think tank, on Wednesday.
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“They should also assign very high-level working teams to create a road map for all serious issues – the sequence of the issues, the responsibility for them and the time frame they should be addressed,” he said, adding that the teams should meet regularly in person, as China’s Vice-Premier Liu He and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer had done while hammering out a trade deal.
Thornton made his remarks as most world leaders rushed in to congratulate Biden on his election victory. Xi had not yet sent his congratulations to the next US president.
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Thornton, a former co-president of Goldman Sachs, is among the best-connected of US business leaders in China. He has met Xi several times and was among the people thanked by President Donald Trump in January at the signing of the phase one trade deal between Washington and Beijing.
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