Xi Biden meeting: US leader promises 'no new Cold War' with China

US President Joe Biden has promised determination volition beryllium nary "new Cold War" with China, pursuing a conciliatory gathering with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

He besides said helium did not judge China would invade Taiwan.

It was the archetypal gathering betwixt the 2 superpower leaders since Mr Biden took office.

The brace met successful Bali, a time earlier the G20 leaders' acme connected the Indonesian island.

In a three-hour gathering held astatine a luxury edifice soon aft Mr Xi's arrival, the leaders discussed a wide scope of topics including Taiwan.

Claimed by Beijing, the self-governed land counts the US arsenic an ally, and has ever been a thorny contented successful US-China relations.

Tensions spiked successful August erstwhile US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan. China responded with large-scale subject exercises astir the island, prompting fears of a imaginable struggle betwixt the US and China.

A readout to Chinese authorities media connected Monday said Mr Xi had stressed that Taiwan remained "the halfway of China's halfway interests… and the archetypal reddish enactment successful US-China relations that cannot beryllium crossed".

Reporters connected Monday asked Mr Biden if helium believed this to beryllium true, and if helium thought a caller Cold War was brewing.

"I perfectly judge determination request not beryllium a caller Cold War. I person met galore times with Xi Jinping and we were candid and wide with 1 different crossed the board. I bash not deliberation determination is immoderate imminent effort connected the portion of China to invade Taiwan," helium said.

"I made it wide we privation to spot cross-strait issues to beryllium peacefully resolved and truthful it ne'er has to travel to that. And I'm convinced that helium understood what I was saying, I understood what helium was saying."

Mr Biden said the 2 leaders had agreed to acceptable up a mechanics wherever determination would beryllium dialogues astatine cardinal levels of authorities to resoluteness issues.

He added that helium had made it wide to Mr Xi that "our argumentation connected Taiwan has not changed astatine all. It's the aforesaid nonstop presumption that we person had".

Mr Biden has repeatedly said the US volition support Taiwan if it is attacked by China. It has been seen arsenic a departure from the long-held US argumentation of "strategic ambiguity" implicit Taiwan, nether which it does not perpetrate to defending the island. Officials person rowed backmost connected his statements.

The US has agelong walked a tightrope implicit the Taiwan issue. A cornerstone of its narration with Beijing is the One China policy, wherever Washington acknowledges lone 1 Chinese authorities - successful Beijing - and has nary ceremonial ties with Taiwan.

But it besides maintains adjacent relations with Taiwan and sells arms to it nether the Taiwan Relations Act, which states that the US indispensable supply the land with the means to support itself.

Besides Taiwan, Mr Xi and Mr Biden's treatment besides covered concerns implicit North Korea and Russia's penetration of Ukraine, according to readouts from some sides.

Mr Biden besides raised concerns astir quality rights issues successful China, including the attraction of the Uyghurs successful Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Tibet.

Both leaders strove to awesome to each different - and to the remainder of the satellite watching their gathering - that they were alert that planetary stableness rested connected relations betwixt their 2 countries, and that they would enactment responsibly.

In caller days Mr Biden and US officials person been astatine pains to awesome their purpose of conciliation, stressing repeatedly that the US does not privation struggle with China, portion maintaining a consciousness of beardown competition.

Mr Xi appeared to beryllium connected the aforesaid page, acknowledging successful the meeting's opening remarks that "we request to illustration the close people for the China-US relationship", fixed that "the satellite has travel to a crossroads".

Later successful the Chinese readout, Mr Xi said that "China-US relations should not beryllium a zero-sum crippled successful which you emergence and I fall… the wide Earth is afloat susceptible of accommodating the improvement and communal prosperity of China and the United States".