President Biden held a meeting with Xi Jinping

Ben Burke Producer

Here’s what Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping covered in first presidential meeting

Nov 16, 2021

Ben Burke Producer

By Ben Burke (Producer)

President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping met virtually for 3 1/2 hours Monday night. The video above shows some of the remarks President Biden made at the meeting. In a press call following the meeting, a senior Biden administration official described the conversations as “respectful and straightforward”, saying the two leaders “had a healthy debate about various issues”.

“They didn’t just stick to the scripts that they had in front of them,” the official said. “They did, at various points, move back and forth between different agenda items, pick up on things that one another said.”

According to the official, those issues included the situation in Taiwan, the Indo-Pacific region, human rights issues and economic issues. When it came to Taiwan, “Biden clearly reaffirmed the U.S. ‘One China’ policy and the precepts on which it’s based,” according to the official. After the meeting between Biden and Xi, a spokesperson with Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan was “paying close” attention to the meeting.

“The Biden administration has repeatedly reiterated that the United States’ commitment to Taiwan is rock solid, and we will continue to pay close attention to the interaction between the United States and China,” Joanne Ou said Tuesday. “And we will continue to promote the global partnership between Taiwan and the United States on the basis of the profound friendship between Taiwan and the United States.”

Regarding human rights issues, “Biden raised concerns about the PRC’s practices in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong,” according to a White House readout of the meeting with Xi. As for economic issues, Biden “was clear about the need to protect American workers and industries from the PRC’s unfair trade and economic practices”.

According to Biden, the meeting with Xi was designed to prevent tensions between the two countries from escalating.

“Our responsibility as leaders of China and the United States is to ensure that the competition between our countries does not veer into conflict, whether intended or unintended, just simple, straightforward competition,” Biden said Monday. “It seems to me we need to establish some common sense guardrails, to be clear and honest where we disagree and work together where interests intersect, especially on vital global issues like climate change.”

Tags: Joe Biden

Joe Biden, U.S. President: We’ve spent an awful lot, a lot of time talking to one another and hope we can have a candid conversation tonight, as well. Maybe I should start more formally, although you and I have never been that formal with one another. Good evening to everyone here in the United States and good morning to you, Mr. President in Beijing. I’m happy we had, found time to meet, and I look forward to a candid and forthright discussion like all the discussions we’ve had thus far. As I’ve said before, it seems to be our responsibility as leaders of China and the United States is to ensure that the competition between our countries does not veer into conflict, whether intended or unintended, just simple, straightforward competition. It seems to me we need to establish some common sense guardrails, to be clear and honest where we disagree and work together where interests intersect, especially on vital global issues like climate change. None of this is a favor to either of our countries what we do for one another, but it’s just responsible world leadership and you’re a major world leader. And so is the United States. As our bilateral relationship evolves, seems to me, will have a profound impact not only on our countries, but quite frankly, the rest of the world. We have a responsibility to the world as well as to our people. It’s why we believe and you and I have talked about this, all countries have to play by the same rules of the road. Why the United States is always going to stand up for our interests and values and those of our allies and partners. In past is prolog, I am sure that today we’ll be discussing those areas where we have concerns, from human rights to economics to ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific. And I think it’s very important, as I’ve told other world leaders, when they ask about our relationship is that we’ve always communicated with one another very honestly and candidly, and that we never walk away wondering what the other man is thinking. And I think that’s an important ingredient for this relationship to be open and candid in terms of our relationship. And do, I think it’s important we communicate honestly and directly to one another about our priorities and our intentions. I look forward to getting down to business and on the extensive and substantive agenda we have ahead of us. And I thank you very much. And thank you for your congratulatory call when I won the election. It was very gracious of, you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”