Joe Biden and Xi Jinping have begun a high-profile summit in San Francisco in a renewed attempt to stabilise US-China relations after several years of rising tensions and mounting concern about a possible conflict over Taiwan, reports the Financial Times. The US administration played down expectations ahead of the Wednesday meeting, saying it was focused on managing risks of further deterioration in the relationship and preventing conflict rather than producing splashy outcomes.
“We have to ensure that competition does not lead to conflict,” Biden told Xi as the meeting began, adding that the countries could work together on issues ranging from artificial intelligence to the climate.
Xi told Biden that the world had emerged from the global pandemic but was still under its “tremendous impacts.” The global economy was recovering, but its momentum remained “sluggish,” he said, adding that industrial supply chains were under the threat of interruption and protectionism was rising.
