Xi, Biden tackle pressing issues
Leaders agree to initiate more contacts on military, AI, climate, air travel, exchanges
President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden agreed to enhance dialogue and cooperation in various fields during a summit on Wednesday, with both sides pledging to initiate intergovernmental talks on artificial intelligence, step up counter-narcotics cooperation and jointly tackle the climate crisis.
These consensuses between the leaders of the world's two largest economies were reached during their hourslong meeting at Filoli, a historic estate south of San Francisco, California. The summit included several sessions, a working lunch and a brief walk after the lunch.
The two presidents agreed to, on the basis of equality and respect, resume high-level military-to-military communication. This includes the China-US Defense Policy Coordination Talks and the China-US Military Maritime Consultative Agreement meetings, as well as telephone conversations between theater commanders.
They also agreed to commit to working toward a significant increase in scheduled passenger flights early next year, and expand educational, student, youth, cultural, sports and business exchanges.
They welcomed recent positive discussions between special climate envoys from Beijing and Washington. These included plans for national-level actions to reduce emissions in the 2020s, common approaches toward a successful COP28 and operationalization of the Working Group on Enhancing Climate Action in the 2020s.
The two presidents also stressed the importance of both countries treating each other with respect and finding ways to live alongside each other peacefully. They also emphasized maintaining open lines of communication, preventing conflict, upholding the United Nations Charter, cooperating on areas of shared interest and responsibly managing competitive aspects of the relationship.
During Xi's first visit to the United States in six years, he told Biden that there are two options for China and the US in this era of global transformation that is unseen in a century. The two sides can either enhance solidarity and cooperation and join hands to meet global challenges and promote global security and prosperity, or they can cling to the zero-sum mentality, provoke rivalry and confrontation, and drive the world toward turmoil and division.
The two choices point to two different directions that will decide the future of humanity and Planet Earth, he said.
"For two large countries like China and the US, turning their back on each other is not an option," Xi stressed.
"It is unrealistic for one side to remodel the other. And conflict and confrontation have unbearable consequences for both sides."
He went on to say that major-country competition is not the prevailing trend of current times and cannot solve the problems facing China and the United States or the world at large.
