Posted on 11/16/21
| News Source: Arutz-7
China applauded a Tuesday virtual meeting between President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden as a pathway to improved relations, as the two world powers looked to tone down ongoing tensions.
The leaders spoke for more than three hours in cordial tones, putting side previous caustic language, during their first official meeting since Biden took office, ABC News reported.
Xi described Biden as his “old friend,” with Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian describing the meeting as “conducive to increasing positive expectations for U.S.-China relations.”
Both sides remained firm in their positions on issues that have caused a rift between the U.S. and China, with Xi warning Washington over its role in protecting ally Taiwan, a self-governing island that China claims as its own.
The meeting was seen as an attempt to reboot relations after the significant decline that occurred during the Trump era, and which had continued since Biden’s inauguration in January.
Both Biden and Xi have been facing increasing domestic pressures, with economic and other internal issues causing concern. Both appeared to be making an effort to return to better relations during the meeting.
Biden began the meeting by saying: “As I’ve said before, it seems to me our responsibility as leaders of China and the United States is to ensure that the competition between our countries does not veer into conflict, whether intended or unintended.