President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping have reached an agreement on halting the production of illicit fentanyl and resuming military-to-military communications.
Biden and Xi met Wednesday at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, the two world leaders’ first face-to-face meeting since November 2022. In a four-hour bilateral meeting, Biden and Xi agreed to begin taking steps to resume military-to-military communications and the Chinese leader agreed to take actions to “dramatically curtail” the creation of precursors to fentanyl, the president and a senior administrative official said. (RELATED: San Francisco Finally Cleans Up Streets, Erects Security Walls For Biden’s Visit With Xi)
“I welcome the positive steps we’ve taken today and it’s important for the world to see that we’re implementing the approach in the best traditions of American diplomacy. We’re talking to our competitors and just talking, just being blunt with one another, so there’s no misunderstanding is a key element to maintaining global stability and delivering for the American people,” Biden said during a Wednesday press conference.
“In the months ahead, we’re going to continue to preserve and pursue high-level diplomacy to the PRC [People’s Republic of China] in both directions to keep the lines of communication open, including between President Xi and me. He and I agreed that each one of us wants to pick up the and phone call directly and we’ll be heard immediately,” Biden continued.
To begin to take steps toward military-to-military communication, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will meet with a Chinese counterpart, who is yet to be identified, to discuss implementing a policy framework, a senior administrative official said. The lack of military-to-military communication has been “worrisome” and can lead to “accidents,” Biden said Wednesday.
US President Joe Biden greets Chinese President Xi Jinping before a meeting during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ week in Woodside, California on November 15, 2023. (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
Biden and Xi also discussed tensions between China and Taiwan. The president stressed that “the longstanding position of the United States was a determination to maintain peace and stability,” the senior administrative official said. Xi told Biden that “peace is all well and good” between China and Taiwan but soon a resolution “more generally” must be met.
“President Xi basically said, ‘look, I hear all these reports in the United States how we’re planning for you know, military action in 2027 or 2035,'” the senior administrative official said. “And there seemed a slight amount of exasperation in those comments. And then basically said, ‘there are no such plans, no one has talked to me about this.’”
Biden and Xi also discussed the United States’ concerns regarding the Ukraine-Russia war as well as the “next steps” in the Middle East, the senior administrative official said. The president brought up artificial intelligence, but the two leaders agreed they are not ready for a “declaration or some sort of framing” and that such an action will take more serious interactions.
“President Biden did not pull punches. He was respectful but very clear,” the senior administrative official said.