Jehangir Hussain :
At their first virtual summit, US president Joe Biden and Chinese president Xi Jinping succeeded in limiting the US-China tensions and their strategic and trade rivalries.
They were no small achievements in today’s world witnessing growing tensions and conflicts, if they did not make headline hitting news.
As the two leaders met twice earlier, the summit has been described as meeting between two ‘old friends’ over the US- China differences over strategic, trade and economic issues.
US allies, strategic partners and the international business community watched with keen interest the two leaders’ third conversation, their first virtual summit.
The Biden administration had warned not to expect too much or concrete results from the summit.
The summit turned out to be a conversation between ‘old friends’ over their differences regarding strategic and economic issues as well as political developments that took place in recent years.
Both Biden and Xi agreed that a new Cold War would be harmful for American and Chinese national interests as well as for the Indo-Pacific region and the world at large.
President Xi used traditional pragmatic Chinese phrases, ‘win-win cooperation, peaceful co-existence, and mutual respect’ possibly to restore normal ties between Beijing and Washington.
President Biden underlined the need to ‘manage strategic risks’ and to develop ‘common-sense guardrails to ensure that competition does not veer into conflict.’
Biden appeared in no hurry to end the ‘tariff war’ until China bought $200 billion worth of American goods by the end of the year as agreed earlier.
American analysts think that the US had effectively used its limited ‘tariff’ war with China in the backdrop of the psychological impact of the Wuhan virus episode and the Chinese military moves in South China Sea, East China Sea and Taiwan Strait with a negative spill over effect on China’s image as an economic partner.
But there is no denying that China has been posing a robust challenge to the US in matters of foreign aid, developmental assistance, foreign investments, including the Belt and Road Initiative.
Clearly, the US, despite its global leadership, military alliances and partnerships cannot compete with the Chinese BRI.
As American allies also have beneficial trade with China, Biden in statements during his summit with XI sought to calm the fears of allies that the US could fail to fulfil its security commitments in the wake of the sudden departure of US troops from Afghanistan.
Obviously, the confidence of the American allies was shaken by the developments in Afghanistan.
Biden sought to reassure allies and partners that the US would ‘ensure the rules of the road for the 21st Century’ in an apparent response to Chinese activities in the South China Sea and he also raised American concerns over human rights violations in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong.
Biden expressed his unhappiness over what he called China’s unfair trade and economic practices’ and emphasised the ‘need to protect American workers and industries’.
He also expressed the American determination to uphold the US commitments to protect the ‘freedom of navigation and safe over flight’ in the Indo-Pacific region.
Biden reiterated the US commitment to ‘one China’ policy based on the Taiwan Relations Act, three joint communiqués issued with China and six assurances given to China by various US administrations.
But he made it clear that all those commitments are conditional upon China not making ‘unilateral efforts to change the status quo or undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait’.
Before the summit, Biden had also openly stated that the US was committed to the defence of Taiwan against military aggression. The White House issued a statement that there was no change in US policy. But his statement made US commitments more ‘ambiguous’ possibly to keep China in confusion.
But President Xi Jinping said in unmistakable terms, China would be forced to ‘take resolute measures’, should the ‘separatist forces’ seek ‘Taiwan’s Independence’, ‘provoke us, force our hands or even cross the red line’.
He made it clear that China reserves the right to use force to ‘unify’ Taiwan with the Mainland.
The obvious implication, Taiwan remains a flashpoint for potential Sino-American armed conflict.
After the summit, no joint communique was issued.
The White House issued a ‘Readout of President Biden’s Virtual Meeting with President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China’.
In its report, Chinese news agency Xinhua highlighted the remarks made by President Xi.
All said and done, the summit was a good beginning, though interpreted differently in Washington and Beijing, things are likely to unfold slowly amid rising tensions.
Limiting the tensions was no small achievement for the XI-Biden summit.
It’s relevant to recall that since 1962, India and China did not allow their unresolved border issues to develop into a new war.
Both Biden and Xi agreed that a new Cold War would be harmful for American and Chinese national interests as well as for the Indo-Pacific region and the world at large.
President Xi used traditional Chinese phrases, ‘win-win cooperation, peaceful co-existence, and mutual respect’ possibly to restore normal ties between Beijing and Washington.
President Biden underlined the need to ‘manage strategic risks’ and to develop ‘common-sense guardrails to ensure that competition does not veer into conflict.’
Biden appeared in no hurry to end the ‘tariff war’ until China bought $200 billion worth of American goods by the end of the year as agreed earlier.
American analysts think that the US had effectively used its limited ‘tariff’ war with China in the backdrop of the psychological impact of the Wuhan virus episode and the Chinese military moves in South China Sea, East China Sea and Taiwan Strait with a negative spill over effect on China’s image as an economic partner. But there is no denying that China has been posing a robust challenge to the US in matters of foreign aid, developmental assistance, foreign investments, including the Belt and Road Initiative.
Clearly, the US, despite its global leadership, military alliances and partnerships cannot compete with the Chinese BRI.
The countries having military alliance ties with the US also have beneficial trade with China.
Biden’s statements during his summit with XI sought to calm the fears of allies that the US could fail to fulfil its security commitments.
The sudden departure of the US troops from Afghanistan has, obviously, shaken the confidence of the American allies.
But Biden sought to reassure allies and partners that the US would ‘ensure the rules of the road for the 21st Century’ in an apparent response to Chinese activities in the South China Sea and he also raised American concerns over human rights violations in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong.
Biden expressed his unhappiness over what he called China’s unfair trade and economic practices’ and emphasised the ‘need to protect American workers and industries’.
He also expressed the American determination to uphold the US commitments to protect the ‘freedom of navigation and safe over flight’ in the Indo-Pacific region.
Biden reiterated the US commitment to ‘one China’ policy based on the Taiwan Relations Act, three joint communiqués issued with China and six assurances given to China by various US administrations.
But he made it clear that all those commitments are conditional upon China not making ‘unilateral efforts to change the status quo or undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait’.
Before the summit, Biden had also openly stated that the US was committed to the defence of Taiwan against military aggression. The White House issued a statement that there was no change in US policy. But his statement made US commitments more ‘ambiguous’ possibly to keep China in confusion.
But President Xi Jinping said in unmistakable terms, China would be forced to ‘take resolute measures’, should the ‘separatist forces’ seek ‘Taiwan Independence’, ‘provoke us, force our hands or even cross the red line’.
He made it clear that China reserves the right to use force to ‘unify’ Taiwan with the Mainland.
The obvious implication, Taiwan remains a flashpoint for potential Sino-American armed conflict.
No joint communique was issued at the end of the Biden-Xi summit.
The White House issued a ‘Readout of President Biden’s Virtual Meeting with President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China’.
Chinese news agency Xinhua’s report highlighted the remarks made by President Xi.
All said and done, the summit was a good beginning in limiting Sino-American rivalries and tensions, though interpreted differently in Washington and Beijing.
Things are likely to unfold slowly amid rising tensions, expect analysts.
When the US and China forged diplomatic relations during the tenures of presidents Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter, statesmen recognised that the issue of Taiwan was irresolvable – but not unmanageable. The diplomatic framework they created wrapped irreconcilable differences in strategic ambiguity that has given 50 years of peace.
Viewed in today’s growing tensions across the world, what Xi and Biden accomplished was no small achievement.
(Jehangir Hussain is a senior journalist. Email: [email protected]).
