Xi, Biden pledge to steer China-US relations back on right track
CHINA: Chinese President Xi Jinping attaches great importance to the China-U.S. relationship and has been consistently pushing for its sound and steady development.
Since Joe Biden became US President in January, Xi has on multiple occasions reiterated his views and proposals. The following are some highlights of his remarks.
In a 3-1/2 hour virtual meeting with Biden, Xi noted that both China and the United States are at critical stages of development, and the “global village” of humanity faces multiple challenges.
As the world’s two largest economies and permanent members of the UN Security Council, China and the United States need to increase communication and cooperation, each run their domestic affairs well and, at the same time, shoulder their share of international responsibilities, and work together to advance the noble cause of world peace and development, Xi said.
He stressed that a sound and steady China-U.S. relationship is required for advancing the two countries’ respective development and for safeguarding a peaceful and stable international environment, including finding effective responses to global challenges such as climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic.
US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping also agreed at the virtual meeting to look into the possibility of arms control talks, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Tuesday.
Biden and Xi agreed to “look to begin to carry forward discussion on strategic stability,” Sullivan said in a reference to US concerns about China’s nuclear and missile buildup.
“You will see at multiple levels an intensification of the engagement to ensure that there are guardrails around this competition so that it doesn’t veer off into conflict,” Sullivan said in a Brookings Institution webinar.
Sullivan did not elaborate on what form the discussions on strategic stability could take, but went on to say:
“That is not the same as what we have in the Russian context with the formal strategic stability dialogue. That is far more mature, has a much deeper history to it. There’s less maturity to that in the U.S.-China relationship, but the two leaders did discuss these issues and it is now incumbent on us to think about the most productive way to carry it forward.”
Washington has repeatedly urged China to join it and Russia in a new arms control treaty. – XINHUA, INDIAN EXPRESS