US-China ties ‘unchanged” following Trump’s election, says Xi in meet with Biden in Peru

Lima, Nov 17 2024-

Chinese President Xi Jinping told his American counterpart President Joe Biden that the US-China relationship would remain “unchanged” following the election of Donald Trump.

“China’s goal of a stable, healthy, and sustainable China-US relationship remains unchanged,” Xi told Biden during the opening remarks of their final meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Lima, Peru.

“China is ready to work with the new US administration to maintain communication, expand cooperation, and manage differences, to strive for a steady transition of the China-US relationship for the benefit of the two peoples,” Xi said.

When it was Biden’s turn to speak, he hailed the long partnership with Xi and acknowledged they hadn’t always agreed. But he said they were frank and candid in their communications, which he called “vital”. He said open communication prevented miscommunication and prevented the countries from veering into conflict.

What happens between the US and China will impact everyone in the world, Biden said, making it their responsibility to get along.

Biden told Xi that the two leaders haven’t always agreed but their discussions have been “frank” and “candid”.

The talks come two months before Trump assumes office. He has vowed to adopt blanket 60 per cent tariffs on US imports of Chinese goods as part of a package of “America First” trade measures. Beijing opposes those steps. The US President-elect also plans to hire several hawkish voices on China in senior roles, including US Senator Marco Rubio as secretary of state and Representative Mike Waltz as national security adviser.

Biden has aimed to lower tensions with China, but Washington is incensed by a recent China-linked hack of the telephone communications of the US government and presidential campaign officials, and it is anxious about increasing pressure by Beijing on Taiwan and Chinese support for Russia.

Meanwhile, Taiwan’s former Economy Minister Lin Hsin-i met Biden at the summit on Friday and invited him to visit Taiwan in the near future.

China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory. The US is Taiwan’s most important international backer and arms supplier, despite the lack of formal diplomatic recognition.

Biden also wants China’s help with North Korea, whose deepening ties with Russia and deployment of troops in the war with Ukraine has worried Washington.

At the same time, Beijing’s economy is taking a stiff hit from Biden’s steps on trade, including a plan to restrict US investment in Chinese artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and semiconductors and export restrictions on high-end computer chips. All of those topics are expected to figure into the talks, US officials said.

China routinely denies US hacking allegations, regards Taiwan as an internal matter, and has protested American statements on China-Russia trade. A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington declined to comment.

“When the two countries treat each other as partner and friend, seek common ground while shelving differences and help each other succeed, our relationship would make considerable progress,” Xi said as he met with Biden.

“But if we take each other as rivals or adversary, pursue vicious competition, and seek to hurt each other, we would roil the relationship or even set it back.”

On Wednesday, Biden’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan described the transition as “a time when competitors and adversaries can see possibly opportunity”.

Biden is stressing with Xi the “need to maintain stability, clarity, predictability through this transition between the US and China”.

Pacific Rim leaders gathered at the APEC summit are assessing the implications of Trump’s return to power as US President on January 20. The South American summit offers new signs of the challenges to the United States’ power in its own backyard, where China is on a charm offensive.

Xi, who arrived in Lima on Thursday, plans a week-long diplomatic blitz in Latin America that includes a refurbished free-trade agreement with Peru, inaugurating the massive Chancay deep-water port there and being welcomed in Brazil’s capital next week for a state visit. China also announced plans to host the APEC summit in 2026. (Agency)