President Joe Biden on Wednesday told his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping that Washington and Beijing must ensure that competition does not lead to conflict between the two superpowers, as the two leaders met for a summit outside San Francisco.
Biden has stressed that the summit is aimed at getting communications between the U.S. and China back on track after a tumultuous year, and he talked up efforts at jointly combatting problems such as climate change.
But the summit is not expected to be free of tensions, as U.S. officials have, for example, aired concerns about a ramping up of Chinese military activity around Taiwan, which Beijing considers a renegade province.
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“I think it’s paramount that you and I understand each other clearly, leader to leader, with no misconceptions or miscommunication,” Biden told Xi.
“We have to ensure that competition does not veer into conflict.”
Xi in return told Biden: “Turning our back on each other is not an option” and said he believed in a “promising future” for the two countries’ relationship.
A U.S. official confirmed that Biden and Xi are expected to announce an agreement that would restore talks under what’s known as the Military Maritime Consultative Agreement. The agreement is used by the U.S. and People’s Liberation Army navies and air forces to improve safety in the air and sea. Until 2020, they had been meeting regularly since 1998 for the talks.
See: Biden says his goal for Xi meeting is to get U.S.-China communications back to normal
The Associated Press contributed
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