The virtual meeting between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping produced no concrete breakthroughs but the two leaders sought to keep the many disputes between the two countries from escalating into a broader conflict
President Joe Biden meets virtually with President Xi Jinping of China at the White House on Monday, Nov. 15, 2021. In a chilly relationship of mutual mistrust, staving off the prospect of a broader conflict between two superpowers counts as progress.
Image: Doug Mills/The New York Times
The virtual meeting between President Joe Biden and China’s leader, Xi Jinping, produced no breakthroughs in a relationship that has spiraled dangerously downward. That was not the intent.
Instead, the two leaders sought to keep the many disputes between the two countries from escalating into a broader conflict. If they can translate their words into a kind of détente, it would count as a diplomatic success.
“It seems clear to me we need to establish some common-sense guardrails,” Biden told Xi in opening remarks, speaking over what amounted to the equivalent of a Zoom call from the Roosevelt Room at the White House and the East Hall in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
Xi, for his part, called Biden “my old friend” and used a nautical metaphor, comparing the two countries to ships that must together navigate the ocean’s wind and waves without colliding.
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