US aims to defuse tensions in Biden-Xi summit

US President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping will speak Monday at a virtual summit aimed at defusing some of the tensions that have built up over Taiwan and other flashpoint issues, but with both sides signalling little appetite for compromise.

The two leaders have already spoken on the phone twice since Biden’s inauguration in January but, with Xi refusing to travel abroad because of the pandemic, an online video meeting remains the best available avenue for direct talks. With most attention in the build-up focused on the sparring over Taiwan, a self-ruling democracy claimed by China, Biden’s aides have cast the summit as an opportunity to help prevent tensions escalating further.

“We know as a responsible global leader that it’s important to keep channels of communication open,” a senior administration official told reporters, adding that “competition” between the two countries should not lead to “conflict.”

“The president will also make clear that we want to build common guardrails to avoid miscalculation or misunderstanding.”

At the same time, the White House also sought to temper expectations, with the official saying that the summit “is not a meeting where we expect deliverables to be coming out.”

The summit, initiated by Biden, will take place Monday at 7:45pm Washington time, which in Beijing is 8:45am on Tuesday, according to a senior administration official. Washington hopes the meeting, which is expected to last several hours, will be more productive than talking over the phone. Xi has not left China for nearly two years, and Biden has criticized his absence at recent major international events.

‘Coercive, provocative’

Relations between the superpowers plummeted during the presidency of Donald Trump, who launched a trade war with China while assailing Beijing over its handling of the pandemic.

While the tone has changed from the outbursts of the Trump era, relations have worsened over Taiwan, while ties remain deeply strained over a wide range of human rights issues and trade.

China has ramped up military activities near Taiwan in recent years, with a record number of planes intruding into the island’s air defense zone in October.