XI, BIDEN TACKLE PRESSING ISSUES

Leaders agree during summit meeting to initiate more contacts on military, AI, climate, air travel, exchanges

President Xi Jinping and United States President Joe Biden agreed to enhance dialogue and cooperation in various fields during a summit on Wednesday, with both sides pledging to initiate intergovernmental talks on artificial intelligence, step up counternarcotics cooperation and jointly tackle the climate crisis.

These consensuses between the leaders of the world's two largest economies were reached during their hourslong meeting at Filoli, a historic estate south of San Francisco, California. The summit included several sessions, a working luncheon and a brief walk after the luncheon.

The two presidents agreed, on the basis of equality and respect, to resume high-level military-to-military communication. This includes the China-US Defense Policy Coordination Talks and the China-US Military Maritime Consultative Agreement meetings, as well as telephone conversations between theater commanders.

They also agreed to commit to working toward a significant increase in scheduled passenger flights early next year, and expand educational, student, youth, cultural, sports and business exchanges.

They welcomed recent positive discussions between special climate envoys from Beijing and Washington. These included plans for national-level actions to reduce emissions in the 2020s, common approaches for a successful 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP28, and putting into operation the Working Group on Enhancing Climate Action in the 2020s.

The two presidents also emphasized the importance of both countries treating each other with respect and finding ways to live alongside each other peacefully. Furthermore, they stressed maintaining open lines of communication, preventing conflict, upholding the United Nations Charter, cooperating on areas of shared interest, and responsibly managing competitive aspects of the relationship.

During Xi's visit, which is his first to the US in six years, he told Biden that there are two options for China and the US in this era of profound global changes unseen in a century. One is to enhance solidarity and cooperation, and join hands to meet global challenges and promote global security and prosperity. The other would be to cling to the zero-sum mentality, provoke rivalry and confrontation, and drive the world toward turmoil and division.

The two choices point to two different directions that would decide the future of humanity and the planet, Xi said.

"For two large countries like China and the US, turning their back on each other is not an option," he said.

"It is unrealistic for one side to remodel the other. And conflict and confrontation have unbearable consequences for both sides," Xi added.

He went on to say that major-country competition is not the prevailing trend of the times and cannot solve the problems facing China and the US or the world at large.

"Planet Earth is big enough for the two countries to succeed, and one country's success is an opportunity for the other," he said.

The president said that China will not take the old path of colonization and plundering, or the wrong path of seeking hegemony with growing strength as it forges ahead with the Chinese path to modernization. He added that China does not export its ideology or engage in ideological confrontation with any other country.

Xi said that China does not plan to surpass or unseat the US, and, likewise, the US should not scheme to suppress or contain China.

The two nations are fully capable of rising above their differences and finding the right path to get along, as long as both sides respect each other, peacefully coexist and pursue win-win cooperation, he said.

While recalling pledges made by Biden during their meeting in Bali, Indonesia, last year, Xi highlighted the necessity for Beijing and Washington to assume a new vision and build five pillars of China-US relations.

The first pillar, he said, is to jointly develop a right perception of each other. Beijing is consistently committed to having a stable, healthy and sustainable relationship with Washington. Meanwhile, China has interests that must be safeguarded, principles that must be upheld and red lines that must not be crossed.

Second, he called on both nations to effectively manage their disagreements, saying that they should look for ways to build bridges to meet each other halfway. Beijing and Washington should appreciate each other's principles and red lines, and refrain from flip-flopping, being provocative and crossing the lines, he said.

Third, both countries should work together to advance mutually beneficial cooperation, Xi said.

He underscored the broad common interests between China and the US, including in traditional areas such as the economy, trade and agriculture, as well as in such emerging areas as climate change and AI.

Both sides should make full use of restored and new mechanisms in foreign policy, economics, finance, commerce, agriculture and other fields, and carry out cooperation in areas such as counternarcotics, judicial affairs, law enforcement, AI and science and technology, he added.

Fourth, Xi called on both sides to jointly shoulder responsibilities as major countries, saying that they should lead by example, step up coordination and cooperation on international and regional issues, and provide more public goods for the world.

He also appealed for stronger people-to-people exchanges, which serve as the fifth pillar.

Xi elaborated on China's principled position on the Taiwan question, calling for the US to take real action to honor its commitment to not support "Taiwan independence", to stop arming Taiwan and to support peaceful reunification.

China will realize reunification, and this is unstoppable, he emphasized.

He also said that US actions against China regarding export controls, investment screening and unilateral sanctions seriously hurt China's legitimate interests.

Stifling China's technological progress is nothing but a move to contain the country's high-quality development and deprive the Chinese people of their right to development, he said.

It is important that the US takes China's concerns seriously and adopts tangible steps to lift its unilateral sanctions to provide an equal, fair and nondiscriminatory environment for Chinese businesses, he said.

Biden, in his opening remarks at the summit, said his meetings with Xi have always been "candid, straightforward and useful".

Reaffirming the five commitments he made in Bali, Biden said that the US does not seek a new Cold War, does not seek to change China's system, does not seek to revitalize alliances against China, does not support "Taiwan independence", and has no intention of having a conflict with China.

The US adheres to the one-China policy, he added.

Noting that the US-China relationship is the most important bilateral relationship in the world, Biden said that a stable and developing China serves the interests of the US and the entire planet, and China's economic growth is beneficial to the US as well as the world.

The US is glad to see China's development and prosperity, and has no intention to halt China's economic development or contain China, or to seek "decoupling" from China, he added.

Xinhua contributed to this story.

Five pillars of China-US relations

・ Jointly develop a right perception of each other

・ Effectively manage disagreements

・ Jointly promote mutually beneficial cooperation

・ Jointly shoulder responsibilities as major countries

・ Jointly promote people-to-people exchanges

xuwei@chinadaily.com.cn