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Wednesday, 22 November 2023 07:53

A Glimmer of Hope for China-US Relations Improvement

Written by  Voice of Indonesia
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US President Joe Biden was very enthusiastic after a four-hour meeting with the President of China Xi Jinping in California, the US on Wednesday (15/11). The meeting was held amid the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation - APEC Summit 2023. In his posting on X, President Joe Biden said that a real development in a constructive and productive talk was achieved. The US and China had achieved agreements to continue military communication and cooperation in fighting the drug trade.

With the recovered military communication between China and the US, concretely, this meant the US Secretary of Defence could meet again with the Chinese Minister of National Defense. This also opened a gateway for contact at the operational level - for instance, the military ship and aircraft commanders in the South China Sea and around Taiwan. This would reduce risks of escalation due to miscommunication, and also accidents.

US-China relations have been tense in recent years. For the first time in the last year, there was a direct meeting between the two world leaders, and since April 2017, Xi Jinping President visited the US. China had cut military communication after the visit of Nancy Pelosi - US 52nd Speaker of the House - to Taiwan in August 2022. 

President Xi Jinping still saw Taiwan as part of China. However, in the meeting with Biden, the leader of China was convinced that the two sides do not have plans to take military action against Taiwan. Nevertheless, a senior US official told Reuters that President Xi Jinping had explained the situation where China can take military action. In turn, President Joe Biden urged President Xi Jinping to respect the upcoming election in Taiwan, in January 2024.
China on Wednesday also promised to take action against fentanyl raw material productions that took lives in the US. Fentanyl is a strong opioid used as an analgesic and anesthetic. According to President Xi Jinping, the US must lift the sanctions for the oppression of the Uyghurs and give China more room for science and technology. Prior to the meeting, the US and China had reached an agreement for better cooperation in climate policy.

In his remark during a gala dinner with business people on Wednesday (15/11) after the meeting with President Joe Biden, President Xi Jinping gave a hint that China will send a panda to a zoo in Washington. He called the panda "a friendly envoy" between the people of China and the US. President Xi Jinping also said China is ready to continue cooperation with the US in preserving pandas.

Amid the not conducive global situation recently, and the grey cloud above the relations between the US and China, the two superpowers' relationship improvement will positively affect the situation in other nations, regions, and vice versa.

Read 438 times Last modified on Tuesday, 28 November 2023 14:34