The White House announced that U.S. President Joe Biden held phone talks on Thursday with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, marking their first conversation in seven months, in an effort to ensure that the "competition" between the two countries does not turn into "conflict." A senior Biden administration official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity, that during the call, Biden informed Xi that the United States wants "the momentum to remain competitive and that we do not find ourselves in a situation in the future where we stray into unintended conflict."
This was the first phone conversation between the two presidents since February, shortly after Biden took office following Donald Trump, during which he spent two hours on the phone with Xi. U.S.-China relations faced a tough period under Trump, who ignited a trade war between the world's two superpowers.
Despite advocating for multilateralism and calling for an end to Trump’s "America First" policy, the Biden administration has maintained the tariffs imposed by the previous Republican administration on Chinese goods and adopted a strict policy regarding other points of contention between the two countries. However, the senior White House official acknowledged that the diplomatic stalemate between the two cannot continue, warning that maintaining the current state of affairs between Washington and Beijing poses risks.
"We have fierce competition, but we do not want this competition to become conflict," the official said. He added that the purpose of the phone call was to establish security protocols ensuring that "the relationship is managed responsibly" until "we actually reach a stable situation between the United States and China." He clarified that the objective of the call was to discuss "broad and strategic" issues rather than to reach concrete decisions or agree on a date for a bilateral summit.
On its part, the White House stated that the two presidents "discussed areas where our interests converge, and areas where our interests, values, and perspectives diverge." In Beijing, state media reported that the Chinese and American presidents held "candid and in-depth talks." The state television network CCTV quoted a brief official statement saying that the leaders of the two largest economies in the world "held candid, in-depth, and broad-ranging strategic discussions on China-U.S. relations and issues of mutual concern."
The report added that Xi informed Biden that the U.S. policy toward China has caused "serious difficulties" and emphasized the importance of setting the relationship back on the right track "for the fate of the world." According to the same source, Xi told Biden that "both our countries and the entire world will suffer in the event of a U.S.-China confrontation." He added that "the future and fate of the world depend on the ability of China and the United States to manage their relations properly. This is the question of the century that both countries need to answer."
Talks held between the countries at a lower level had not gone well, particularly those hosted in Anchorage, Alaska, in March, which were marked by intense tension between U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and several senior Chinese officials. The senior White House official told reporters, "We were not very pleased with the behavior of our counterparts." He added that in light of this impasse, "President Biden recognized the importance of speaking directly with President Xi."
The list of disagreements between Washington and Beijing is long and continues to grow, including issues beyond trade, such as Taiwan and waters claimed by China in disputes with its neighbors in the South China Sea. The U.S. official emphasized that the phone call between Biden and Xi aimed to "keep communication channels open."
