WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping talked about Taiwan, artificial intelligence, and security concerns on Tuesday during a call meant to show a return to regular leader-to-leader talks between the two countries.
The call, described by the White House as “honest and positive,” was the leaders’ first discussion since their November meeting in California resulted in renewed connections between the two nations’ militaries and a commitment to increased cooperation on stopping the flow of lethal fentanyl and its precursors from China.
Xi told Biden that the two countries should stick to the principle of “no clash, no confrontation” as one of the guidelines for this year.
“We should prioritize stability, not stir up problems, not cross boundaries but maintain the overall stability of China-U.S. relations,” Xi said, according to China Central Television, the state broadcaster.
The approximately 105-minute call marks the beginning of several weeks of high-level interactions between the two countries, with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen scheduled to visit China on Thursday and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to visit in the coming weeks.
Biden has called for continued interactions at all government levels, believing it is crucial to prevent competition between the two huge economies and nuclear-armed powers from escalating to direct conflict. While face-to-face summits occur about once a year, officials said both Washington and Beijing see the value of more frequent discussions between the leaders.
The two leaders discussed Taiwan before next month’s inauguration of Lai Ching-te, the island’s president-elect, who has promised to protect its de-facto independence from China and further align it with other democracies. Biden reiterated the United States’ longstanding “One China” policy and reiterated that the U.S. opposes any coercive tactics to bring Taiwan under Beijing’s control. China views Taiwan as a domestic matter and has strongly objected to U.S. support for the island.
Taiwan remains the “first red line not to be crossed,” Xi told Biden, and stressed that Beijing will not tolerate separatist activities by Taiwan’s independence forces as well as “exterior indulgence and support,” which alluded to Washington’s support for the island.
Biden also expressed concerns about China’s activities in the South China Sea, including efforts last month to obstruct the Philippines, which the U.S. is obligated by treaty to defend, from resupplying its forces on the disputed Second Thomas Shoal.
Next week, Biden will host Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the White House for a joint summit where China’s influence in the region was set to be the main topic.
Biden, in the call with Xi, urged China to do more to fulfill its commitments to stop the flow of illegal drugs and to arrange for the scheduling of additional precursor chemicals to prevent their export. The pledge was made at the leaders’ summit held in Woodside, California, last year on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting.
During the November summit, Biden and Xi agreed to have official discussions about the benefits and dangers of advanced artificial intelligence. These talks are scheduled to happen soon. They briefly talked about this issue on Tuesday, just two weeks after China and the U.S. joined over 120 other nations in supporting a resolution at the United Nations for global protections around this new technology.
In the call, Biden repeated his warnings to Xi about not meddling in the 2024 U.S. elections and about stopping harmful cyberattacks on important American infrastructure.
He also expressed worries about human rights in China, such as the new strict national security law in Hong Kong, the treatment of minority groups, and the situation of detained or restricted Americans in China.
The Democratic president also brought up China's defense relationship with Russia, which is working to rebuild its industrial base while carrying out its invasion of Ukraine. He also asked Beijing to use its influence over North Korea to control the isolated and unpredictable nuclear power.
As the leaders of the world's two biggest economies, Biden also discussed concerns with Xi about China's one-sided economic practices. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that the U.S. will take actions to protect its security and economic interests, including by continuing to limit the transfer of certain advanced technology to China.
Xi complained that the U.S. has taken more steps to hold back China's economy, trade, and technology in recent months. He mentioned that the list of sanctioned Chinese companies has grown longer, which he believes is not reducing risks, but creating more. This was reported by the broadcaster.
Yun Sun, director of the China program at Stimson Center, said the call reflects the shared desire to keep the relationship between the two countries stable, while the men reiterated their long-held positions on issues of concern.
The call happened before Yellen's visit to Guangzhou and Beijing for a week of meetings with finance leaders from the world's second largest economy, including Vice Premier He Lifeng, Chinese Central Bank Gov. Pan Gongsheng, former Vice Premier Liu He, American businesses, and local leaders.
An advisory for the upcoming trip states that Yellen will promote fair treatment for American workers and businesses, and she plans to talk to Chinese counterparts about unfair trade practices.
This follows Xi's meeting in Beijing with U.S. business leaders last week, during which he emphasized the mutually beneficial economic connections between the two countries and encouraged people-to-people exchange to maintain the relationship.
Xi told the Americans that the two countries have continued to communicate and have made progress on issues such as trade, anti-narcotics, and climate change since his meeting with Biden in November. Last week's significant meeting was seen as Beijing's attempt to stabilize bilateral relations.
Before her trip to China, Yellen said that Beijing is flooding the market with green energy, which she believes distorts global prices. She intends to share her concerns with her counterparts that Beijing's increased production of solar energy, electric vehicles, and lithium-ion batteries poses risks to the global economy's productivity and growth.
American lawmakers are feeling worried again about Chinese ownership of the popular social media app TikTok, and they have created new legislation that would forbid TikTok if its Chinese owner ByteDance does not sell its stakes in the platform within six months of the bill's approval. Kirby mentioned that Biden expressed our worries about the ownership of TikTok to Xi during their call.
As the head of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., which evaluates foreign ownership of companies in the U.S., Yellen has a lot of freedom to decide how the company could continue operating in the U.S.
Meanwhile, China's leaders have set a target of 5% economic growth this year despite a slowdown worsened by problems in the property sector and the lingering effects of strict anti-virus measures during the COVID-19 pandemic that disrupted travel, logistics, manufacturing and other industries.
China is the leading player in batteries for electric vehicles and has a quickly growing auto industry that could compete with the world's established carmakers as it expands globally.
Last year, the U.S. laid out plans to restrict EV buyers from claiming tax credits if they buy cars containing battery materials from China and other countries that are considered hostile to the United States. Separately, the Department of Commerce started an investigation into the potential national security risks posed by Chinese car exports to the U.S.
