After about three hours of maintenance between the two leaders, the deep differences remain. Taiwan remains a red line for Beijing, which persists in qualifying the situation in Ukraine as “crisis”.
by Frédéric Lemaître (Beijing, correspondent) and Philippe Ricard (Bali (Indonesia), Special Envoy)
Hand handle, smiles. The American president, Joe Biden, and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, finally met on Monday, November 14, in Bali, where they were both preparing to participate on November 15 and 16, at the G20 summit. “We spent a lot of time together when we were both vice-presidents, and it’s a real pleasure to see you again,” started Joe Biden to Xi Jinping, finding the latter in the hotel where he resides. “We must define the good trajectory for the Sino-American relationship. We must find the right way so that this bilateral relationship goes forward and rises,” said, for his part, Xi Jinping.
Unlike those around them, the two leaders did not wear a mask, over three hours of maintenance, the first “face -to -face” in their respective functions. If the substantive differences remain, everyone has stormed good will. Without waiting for the end of the meeting, the Chinese Foreign Ministry had made some Xinping sentences publicly, supposed to mark the manager’s state of mind. The latter judged that “the current state of Sino-American relations does not correspond to the fundamental interests of the two countries and the two peoples or the expectations of the international community”.
“We share, in my eyes, the responsibility to show that China and the United States can overcome their differences, prevent competition from turning to the conflict,” said Joe Biden. “We can find ways to work together on urgent global issues that demand that we cooperate,” he added by referring to the fight against climate change or food insecurity. After the interview, the American president repeated that he does not want a “new cold war” with China. If no joint press release has been issued, bilateral contacts must continue on all friction subjects, have agreed the two leaders.
the American president firm on Taiwan
However, the summary published by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs following the meeting shows that the disagreements between the first two world powers remain numerous and that Taiwan is the main stumbling block. The press release devotes a paragraph to it. “Taiwan’s question (…) is the first red line which should not be crossed in relations between China and the United States. To solve the question of Taiwan is (…) an inner case to China.” The text Even specifies that “peace and stability in the Strait and independence of Taiwan are as irreconcilable as water and fire”.
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