The heads of the United States and China held their first telephone conversation on February 11.
After Biden’s congratulating on the upcoming New Year holidays and Xi’s congratulations on Biden’s election victory, the heads of states began negotiations.
According to the White House, the parties discussed preventing the spread of nuclear weapons in the world, combating the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) and climate change.
U.S.— China relations have dropped to their lowest level in decades in recent years. Over the past year, the two sides have closed a number of diplomatic missions, following accusations by China of wide-scale espionage in the United States and theft of intellectual property made by the Trump administration.
During the talks Biden discussed the Hong Kong, the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) and Taiwan topics. The United States accused the Chinese government for violation of human rights in these territories.
“I told him I would work with China when it would benefit the American people,” — Biden tweeted.
In his turn, Xi Jinping stressed that the Sino-American “confrontation” can aggravate the situation not only of the United States and China, but also of the whole world. However, cooperation between Washington and Beijing, according to Xi’s speech, can benefit both countries and contribute to the recovery of the world economy, maintaining peace and stability.
The stage of relations that the US and China are going through cannot be called simple. Even before receiving the post of head of state, Biden said that China is the main competitor of the United States.
When asked about Taiwan, Hong Kong and Xinjiang, Xi Jinping told the 46th President of the United States Joe Biden that this is an internal matter of China, which is related to its sovereignty and territorial unity.
Despite the differences in the conversation, the two sides agreed to maintain close contact on issues of mutual relations and issues of common interest.
