Lima, Nov 17: China’s leader Xi Jinping met for the last time with US President Joe Biden on Saturday but was already looking ahead to President-elect Donald Trump and his “America first” policies, saying Beijing “is ready to work with a new US administration”.
During their talks on the sidelines of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, Xi cautioned that a stable China-US relationship was critical not only to the two nations but also the “future and destiny of humanity”.
“Make the wise choice,” he cautioned. “Keep exploring the right way for two major countries to get along well with each other.”
Without mentioning Trump’s name, Xi appeared to signal his concern that the incoming president’s protectionist rhetoric on the campaign trail could send the US-China relationship into another valley.
“China is ready to work with a new US administration to maintain communication, expand cooperation and manage differences so as to strive for a steady transition of the China-US relationship for the benefit of the two peoples,” Xi said through an interpreter.
Xi, who is firmly entrenched atop China’s political hierarchy, spoke forcefully in his brief remarks before reporters. Biden, who is winding down more than 50 years of public service, talked in broader brushstrokes about where the relationship between the two countries has gone. He reflected not just on the past four years but the decades the two have known each other.
“We haven’t always agreed, but our conversations have always been candid and always been frank. We’ve never kidded one another,” Biden said. “These conversations prevent miscalculations, and they ensure the competition between our two countries will not veer into conflict.”
Biden urged Xi to dissuade North Korea from further deepening its support for Russia’s war on Ukraine. The leaders, with top aides surrounding them, gathered around a long rectangle of tables in an expansive conference room at Lima’s Defines Hotel and Conference Centre.
China “hosted” the meeting this year, after Xi and Biden met a year ago on the APEC sidelines in northern California, a gathering hosted by the US. They had much to discuss, including China’s indirect support for Russia, human rights issues, technology and Taiwan, the self-ruled democracy that Beijing claims as its own. On artificial intelligence, the two agreed on the need to maintain human control over the decision to use nuclear weapons.
There’s much uncertainty about what lies ahead in the US-China relationship under Trump, who campaigned promising to levy 60 per cent tariffs on Chinese imports.
Already, many American companies, including Nike and eyewear retailer Warby Parker, have been diversifying their sourcing away from China. Shoe brand Steve Madden says it plans to cut imports from China by as much as 45 per cent next year.
In a congratulatory message to Trump after his victory over Vice-President Kamala Harris, Xi called for the US and China to manage their differences and get along in a new era. In front of the cameras Saturday, Xi spoke to Biden – but it was unmistakable that his message was directed at Trump. (AP)
