Biden-Xi talks ease threat of war but core differences remain

It would be sheer fantasy to expect that four hours of talks between United States President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping would somehow calm the bloody conflict in the Middle East, the raging war in Europe and the simmering maritime tensions in Asia.

- Bhagyashree Garekar

 

But no one would deny that diplomacy had a good moment on Wednesday in full view of the world leaders assembled here for the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

For a start, there is cautious hope that the threat has receded - at least a little - of an accidental war being set off by a hostile encounter between US and Chinese ships sailing in uncomfortable proximity in the contested waters of the South and East China seas.

Now that the two superpowers have agreed to resume military cooperation arguably the most significant achievement of the summit analysts see a geopolitical dividend.

Military ties were severed by Beijing, angered by then US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's trip to Taiwan in August 2022.

"I am relieved that on the tactical and operational level, there will be more safety valves for the management of an escalation of tension," said Ms Yun Sun, director of the China Programme at the Stimson Centre, a think-tank in Washington.

It is not that the trust the US and China have in each other has risen, but the summit is an acknowledgement that they are interdependent, said Mr Ian Bremmer, the president and founder of New York-based risk consultancy Eurasia Group.

"These are not countries that want chaos, they recognise they need stability of the existing global system," Mr Bremmer said.

"Biden and Xi came to the meeting with that sensibility at a time when the Middle East is in flames, Russia has invaded Ukraine and geopolitics is very dangerous." He added: "In this environment, that's very valuable." That said, the superpowers were not on a path of convergence, the analysts noted.

"There is some reassurance that there are channels of communication. But it is also a pretty low bar," said Ms Sun.