Joe Biden and Xi Jinping met for the first time in over a year for high-stakes talks on Wednesday to try and bury the hatchet amid dangerously escalating tensions between Washington and Beijing.
Their encounter began with a warm double-clasped handshake, and a declaration by Xi that the world is ‘big enough’ for both countries, despite years of rising rhetoric and provocations.
‘The China-U.S. relationship has never been smooth sailing and always faces problems of one kind or another,’ Xi said through a translator as he met Biden.
‘Yet it has kept moving forward amidst twists and turns. For China and the United States, turning their back on each other is not an option. It is unrealistic for one side to remodel the other, and conflict and confrontation has terrible consequences for both sides. Planet Earth is big enough for the two countries to succeed.’
Joe Biden and Jinping met for the first time in over a year for high-stakes talks on Wednesday to try and bury the hatchet…