Chinese leader Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden have met for long-awaited talks that come as relations between their countries are at their lowest in decades, marred by disagreements over a host of issues from Taiwan to trade.
The two leaders, holding their first in-person talks since Biden became president, met on Monday on the Indonesian island of Bali ahead of a Group of 20 (G20) summit that is set to be fraught with tension over Russiaโs invasion of Ukraine.
Biden and Xi shook hands in front of a row of Chinese and US flags as they met at the luxury hotel Mulia on Nusa Dua bay in Bali.
โThe world has come to a crossroads,โ Xi said vowing a โcandidโ discussion of issues that have riven relations between the worldโs two leading powers.
โThe world expects that China and the United States will properly handle the relationship,โ he said.
For his part, Biden greeted Xi with a smile that belied the growing competition between the nation that has defined the last century and a rival that seeks to define the next one.
Biden said he wanted the US and China to โmanage our differences, prevent competition from becoming conflict.โ
On the eve of his meeting with Xi, Biden told Asian leaders in Cambodia that lines of communication with China would remain open to prevent conflict but that the talks were expected to be tough.
Biden told reporters that he had โalways had straightforward discussionsโ with Xi, and that has prevented either of them from โmiscalculationsโ of their intentions.
โI know him well, he knows me,โ Biden said. โWeโve just got to figure out where the red lines are and what are the most important things to each of us, going into the next two years.โ
Biden arrived in Bali on Sunday night, as his Democratic Party retained their control of the Senate after performing better than expected in the midterm elections.
Xi, who secured an unprecedented third term at last monthโs Communist Party Congress, is Chinaโs most powerful leader since Mao Zedong.(Aljazeera)