Changes in relations between US-China
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Joe Biden urged him to hold a face-to-face meeting with the Chinese President Xi Jinping in the 90th minute last week but failed to secure a contract with his teammate, prompting some U.S. officials to suggest Beijing continue to play hardball with Washington.
The US president asked Xi for the leaders to convene a meeting to address the crisis Relations between US-China, but a number of people have responded to the call that the Chinese leader did not use him but instead insisted on Washington making it less clear in Beijing.
The White House has it he showed off his singing – which happened at Biden’s request seven months after his first phone call – as an opportunity to investigate whether Xi was willing to attend major meetings between US and Chinese officials did not make much progress.
Five people briefly commented on the call said Xi used it a little less Speaking more than his top ambassadors did this year, his message to Biden was that the US should challenge his views.
Biden has taken violence in China, denouncing the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, their uprising against Hong Kong’s democracy and the military around Taiwan. Beijing has responded by accusing Biden officials of undermining China’s interests.
A sixth person who knows this said Biden had sung at the conference as one of the few things he would follow in the wake of Xi’s introduction, and that the US President did not expect a quick response.
A U.S. official explained to the talks that although Xi did not attend the meeting, the White House believed that this was due to Covid-19 concerns. Xi has not left China since moving to Myanmar in early 2020 before the outbreak.
The US also considered the G20 summit in Italy in October at a possible summit, but Chinese journalists say Xi will not attend. He will no longer attend the Shanghai Co-operation Organization this week in Tajikistan, where China, Russia, India, Pakistan and Central Asian countries will discuss Afghanistan.
A source familiar with Biden-Xi’s call said it was possible that the Chinese President did not want to commit at this time. Someone said it was possible for both parties to agree to play a video – a little off the phone – for the entire G20. But three people say the US was upset by what Xi appeared to be uninteresting in the summit.
The Chinese news of the call confirmed that it was initiated by Biden, and quoted Xi as saying that the US policy brought “serious difficulties”. He added that the US “expects more talks and cooperation” with China, in a language that means Washington is more committed to action than Beijing.
One day after the call, the Financial Times reported that Biden was acting out allowing Taiwan to change its name his office in the US, from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office to the “Taiwanese Representative Office.”
Bonnie Glaser, a Chinese specialist at the German Marshall Fund, said it was difficult to interpret Xi’s refusal to hold a public meeting.
“It could be dangerous for Xi to negotiate with President Biden without any doubt that he can get something from Biden. He can count on it to be the only way to connect at this point in the world,” Glaser said. “But there’s also something about Covid, and we don’t know how heavy it is to fit in.”
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