U.S.-China relations at the zoo, goodbye to pandas, and a threatening threat to the Middle East
“We are ready to continue our cooperation with the United States on panda conservation and do our best to meet the wishes of the Californians so as to deepen friendly ties between our peoples,” he said to loud applause.
“I was told that many American people, especially children, were really reluctant to say goodbye to the pandas, and went to the zoo to see them off,” Xi said in his speech. He added that he learned the San Diego Zoo and people in California “very much look forward to welcoming pandas back.”
“Bilateral trade and investments are no longer counted as “the stabilizer” in U.S.-China relations.” The structural challenge is unresolved, she said.
In China, the economic growth since then has been less impressive to many analysts. According to Yu Jie, a research fellow on China at the Chatham House think tank in London, this visit is intended to be used to send a welcome message to U.S. business leaders.
At Wednesday’s meeting, the issue of Taiwan was front and center. The most threatening issue in the relationship was Taiwan, according to a senior U.S. official.
Russia’s invasion ofUkraine is in high-level bilateral talks. At Wednesday’s meeting, Biden urged Xi to continue to withhold military support to Moscow.
The role the US and China may play in the Middle East crisis is a recent testing case. According to U.S. officials, Biden asked Beijing to urge Iran to take proactive steps as the Israel-Hamas war drags on. Beijing said that they had talked to Tehran about potential risks.
Taiwan is a “huge factor” in bilateral relations, and the Chinese government is not ready for a peaceful reunification of the island
In 2019, China banned the export of fentanyl, but illicit drug manufacturers adapted. The drugs most of the ingredients for come from China. The new agreement will underpin a crackdown on companies selling precursors and pill presses.
An official from the Biden administration said the administration had worked with the Chinese government to target specific companies. There’s a lot of proof in the pudding here. These are important steps.
President Biden and his Chinese counterpart took a stroll through a garden on Wednesday, the first time they met face-to-face in a year.
Jessica Chen Weiss, a Chinese foreign policy expert at Cornell University, says Taiwan is a “huge factor” in the bilateral relations. “But I think both sides are quite aware and not interested in adding any element of instability,” she said. “There may be reactions, but I think that for now, leaders and political candidates are pretty sober about the potential dangers.”
Ahead of Taiwan’s presidential election in January, even the island’s political candidates are aware that things can go wrong if things get out of control.
A senior administration official said that after the conversation with Biden, China’s preference was for a peaceful reunification of the island.
According to the official’s tally,Xi noted how he heard reports about China planning to take military action against Taiwan in the 20th century. “He basically said there aren’t any plans at all,” the administration official said. NPR has contacted the Chinese government for comment.
What Do U.S. Companies Learn from the Biden-Xi Meeting? Some Take-Aways From Vietnam’s Vietnamese President Van Thuong
Speaking at an event in San Francisco ahead of the Biden-Xi meeting on Wednesday, Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong said “the entire country” was tuning in.
“The only concern is that [if] these two major powers cannot reach agreement, cannot work together, [it] will negatively affect the region,” he said through an interpreter.
They may or may not dislike what they hear, and they may or may not resolve some of the key issues that divide them. If they are not engaged, if they don’t talk, if they aren’t involved in a way that allows them to air their grievances, the chances of miscalculations and accidents goes up. Neither side wants that.
“You can be cynical and say that talking and engaging won’t solve the problem and you wouldn’t be wrong.” But not talking to each other is no longer a low-risk proposition,” said Dave Finkelstein, director for China and Indo-Pacific Security Affairs at the Center for Naval Analyses, an independent research institute in Arlington, Virginia.
Xi also praised the achievements of this meeting on Wednesday evening. In an address to U.S. business leaders in downtown San Francisco, the Chinese leader said there is “plenty of room for our corporations, and we are fully able to help each other succeed and achieve win-win outcomes.”
But beyond the positive spin, can this meeting help alter the trajectory of the bilateral relationship? Here are a few take-aways from Wednesday’s meeting.
Reviving the U.S.-China Military-to-Military Dialogue after the Pelosi-Pelosi Visit
“I know the man. I know his modus operandi,” the U.S. president said. Biden said that he is a dictator because he runs a communist country, which is totally different than ours.
Top among them is an agreement to resume high-level military-to-military dialogue. These communications were suspended last year following former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.
Biden said that it had been worrisome. Accidents happen because of that. Administration officials say this has been a top issue in talks with China in recent months, and Biden expressed relief that there was finally agreement to get the talks back up and running.
The bears have long been the symbol of the U.S.-China friendship since Beijing gifted a pair of pandas to the National Zoo in Washington in 1972, ahead of the normalization of bilateral relations. Beijing lent the pandas to other U.S. zoos, with the proceeds going to panda programs.
The three giant pandas, from the National Zoo, started their long trip to China eight days ago. After their departure, only four pandas are left in the United States, in the Atlanta Zoo.
Cooperation in the Zoos: After Xi and Biden Arrived for a Meetup at the Filoli Historic House & Garden
But relations showed signs of stabilization as Xi traveled to San Francisco to meet with Biden. The two men agreed to cooperate on anti-narcotics, military communications and people-to-people exchanges after meeting at the Filoli Historic House & Garden.
The National Zoo’s agreement with the China Wildlife Conservation Association had been set to end in December and negotiations to renew or extend the deal did not produce results.