Xi-Biden bonhomie at Bali Summit

The more than three-hour meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and United States President Joe Biden on the sidelines of G20 summit at Bali in Indonesia seems to have toned down the tough stance that the US had adopted towards China, especially after the outbreak of Covid-19 and the Russian-Ukrainian war in 2022.

President Biden came up with the positive statement after his meeting with President Xi that there is no need for a new Cold War. Biden said, “I absolutely believe there need not be a new Cold War.

And we were candid and clear with one another across the board during the meeting. And I do not think there’s any imminent attempt on the part of China to invade Taiwan.”

Xi is quoted as saying that “just as the United States has American-style democracy, China has Chinese-style democracy,” and he gave competition a self-improvement definition by saying “competition should be about learning from each other to become one’s better self and make progress together, not about taking others down in a zero-sum game.”

It means many things and interpreters can have a whale of a time putting their own spin to it. On the face of it, it appears that Biden is saying that though the Chinese and American political systems are different and even opposed, it is no reason for the two countries to fight each other on the economic front, and that it is possible to do business with each other.

It was also conveyed from both sides that communications between the two sides should be resumed, and to mean what they say it has been said that US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken would visit China early next year.

Xi on his part is saying indirectly that the US and China need each other, and it does not serve each other’s interest to be fighting with each other.

This should come as a surprise thaw because the US had formed the Quad, comprising the US, Australia, Japan and India to counter Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific.

Though seen ostensibly as implying closer economic and diplomatic ties among the four countries, the implication was clear that it was intended to counter China in the south-east Asian, east Asian and Pacific spheres.

But the Xi-Biden meeting was not all a smooth affair. The Americans said that Biden while reiterating the One China policy made it clear that military force should not be used against Taiwan, the bone of contention between the two sides.

On the other hand, the Chinese side said that Xi had told the American leader that there are red lines that should not be crossed, implying that Beijing would not brook any encouragement of Taiwan to assert its independence.

It appears that by adopting a more conciliatory tone towards China, the US wants to break a China-Russia alliance which is directed against the US.

It has been said that in their talks, the two leaders had spoken out against the threat of the use of nuclear weapons, which is an indirect reference to Russia because Russian President Vladimir Putin had hinted at the use of nuclear weapons if it came to defending Russia.

Is the visible bonhomie between Xi and Biden genuine or is it a diplomatic cloak for each to pursue their power game?

Whatever may be the long-term perspective, it looks like that at the moment the US and China want to work together even if they do not want to be friends with each other in the sense of sharing similar worldviews. The US and China will continue to view the world differently, but the two leaders implied that they can avoid confrontation with each other.