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US President Joe Biden, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, speaks to Chinese leader Xi Jinping via video link on Tuesday Beijing time. Photo: Reuters

Xi and Biden show open, friendly face of summit while broaching the big issues

  • The presidents’ virtual meeting had ceremony and symbolism, from their sartorial choices to their historic settings
  • China’s president may have referred to his ‘friend’ and the American leader recalled their past, but many points of friction remain in the US-China relationship
An exchange of friendly waves opened the high-stakes virtual meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Joe Biden, with Xi briefing Biden on the Communist Party sixth plenum that paved the way for his third term.

A conciliatory tone was set even though the world leaders went on to flag areas of disagreement during the 3½-hour meeting.

In Beijing, the summit began on Tuesday morning when Xi and his aides marched into the East Hall of the Great Hall of the People – where some of China’s top political meetings have been held – and were seated according to Chinese protocol for formal top-level meetings.

Biden – meeting late on Monday night US time – chose to be in the Roosevelt Room at the White House, where top political nomination announcements have been made.

The high-level diplomatic protocol had a touch of informality when the two leaders waved with a smile once they saw the other on the screen, with Xi referring to Biden as his “old friend”.

“It’s the first time for us to meet virtually. I’m very happy to see my old friend,” Xi, wearing a blue tie, told Biden who opted for red.

The two leaders, whose relationship dates back to August 2011 when both served as vice-president of their respective countries, travelled together in Sichuan province in China.

Xi-Biden summit: who were the key players at the talks?

The latest summit came after the Communist Party’s sixth plenum wound up last week. The party elite passed a resolution paying tribute to China’s development under Xi’s leadership.

Xi talked about the plenum at the meeting with Biden.

“The Chinese people’s hope for a better life is the greatest driving force for China’s development, and it is an inevitable historical trend. Whoever wants to stop this historical trend will not be accepted by the Chinese people, and it cannot be stopped at all,” he said.

“As a Chinese leader, serving and creating better living for 1.4 billion Chinese people is a major challenge as well as a major responsibility for me. My attitude is: I will devote all my life to the cause of the people.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets US President Joe Biden via video link, from Beijing. Biden had sought a face-to-face meeting but Xi has not attended any official meetings outside China since before the pandemic. Photo: Xinhua

While Xi’s path to a third term as party chief next year appears secure, Biden is facing pressure at home with less than resounding results for Democrats in a number of gubernatorial and mayoral races. Biden did not return the “friend” greeting but he did play on their personal history by expressing a wish to meet Xi in person, recalling the time they “travelled through China” before either was head of state.

Since Biden took office in January the two leaders have spoken over the phone twice but the meeting on Tuesday was the highest level diplomatic meeting taken by Beijing since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic two years ago.

Summit a chance for Xi and Biden to act global and think local

Biden had sought a face-to-face meeting, but the Chinese side agreed only to a virtual meeting as Xi had not made any official foreign visits since the beginning of the pandemic in December 2019.

None of the Chinese attendees shown in the virtual meeting wore a face mask, while all the Americans except Biden were masked.

Coronavirus has been one of the most tense areas of conflict for the two powers. Biden has called for a more in-depth investigation into the origins of Covid-19 in China, which Beijing perceived as a political challenge and prided itself on keeping the virus largely under control within its borders, despite recent outbreaks.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Friendly waves set tone, with Xi hailing Biden as an ‘old friend’
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