United States and China have agreed to resume military-to-military communications, as announced by President Joe Biden following a rare meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping in California.
The meeting marked the first in-person encounter between the leaders in over a year.
During a news conference after the summit at a historic country estate near San Francisco, President Biden emphasized the importance of direct and clear communications between the two nations.
“We’re back to direct, open, clear communications,” he stated highlighting that a lack of communication can lead to accidents.
President Biden further disclosed that both leaders had agreed to establish a direct line of communication with each other, enabling them to “pick up the phone and be directly heard immediately.”
The resumption of military communications comes after China severed these channels last year following a visit to Taiwan by then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, an action that Beijing viewed as provocative.
While acknowledging that many disagreements persist between the two nations, President Biden characterized the talks as “some of the most constructive and productive discussions we’ve had.”
However, when asked about President Xi, Biden referred to him as a dictator, stating, “He’s a dictator in the sense that he is a guy who runs a country… based on a form of government that is totally different from ours.”
Despite this candid remark, the discussions yielded several agreements addressing various points of contention.
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Both nations pledged to tackle the flow of fentanyl into the US, with China agreeing to target companies producing precursor chemicals for the synthetic opioid. President Biden expressed optimism that these actions would “significantly reduce the flow of precursor chemicals and pill presses from China to the Western Hemisphere.”
The leaders also delved into discussions on artificial intelligence (AI), the Israel-Gaza conflict, and the complex issue of Taiwan, which President Xi reportedly emphasized as “the biggest, most dangerous issue in US-China ties.”
China characterized the restored military communications as based on “the basis of equality and respect,” with President Xi highlighting that “Planet Earth is big enough for the two countries to succeed, and one country’s success is an opportunity for the other.”
While the meeting was highly anticipated, officials on both sides played down expectations of major breakthroughs, emphasizing the goal of managing competition, preventing conflict, and keeping channels of communication open. The meeting took place on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit.
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