China’s president wants more pandas to come to the US
Biden-Xi Meeting in California: The Challenge of Taiwan and the Status of the U.S.-China Interaction, and Iran’s Implications for the Middle East
He said that they would work to meet the wishes of the Californians so as to deepen friendly ties between the two peoples.
“I was told that many American people, especially children, were really reluctant to say goodbye to the pandas, and went to the zoo to see them off,” Xi said in his speech. He added that he learned the San Diego Zoo and people in California “very much look forward to welcoming pandas back.”
The U.S.-China relationship used to be counted on bilateral trade and investments as the stabilizer. The structural challenge is still unresolved, she said.
Since then, the growth has been less impressive for analysts in China. Yu Jie, a senior research fellow at the Chatham House think tank in London, stated that the purpose of the visit was to send a welcome message to U.S. business leaders.
The issue of Taiwan featured prominently at Wednesday’s Biden-Xi meeting. According to a senior U.S. official, Xi underscored to Biden that Taiwan was “the biggest,” and “most potentially dangerous” issue in the relationship.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues to feature in high-level bilateral talks. Biden asked the president to keep withholding military support to Moscow.
One recent testing case may be the role both the U.S. and China play in the Middle East crisis. According to U.S. officials, Biden asked Beijing to urge Iran to take proactive steps as the Israel-Hamas war drags on. Beijing said they had talked to Tehran about potential risks in the region.
Taiwan is a “huge factor” in the bilateral relations between the two sides of the Beijing-China ban on the export of Fentanyl
China banned the export of Fentanyl, but illegal drugs were able to adapt. Most of the ingredients for the drug are from China. The new agreement will underpin a crackdown on companies selling precursors and pill presses.
A senior Biden administration official said the administration had worked with the Chinese government to target specific companies. “In many respects the proof is in the pudding here. These are some important steps.
After more than four hours of talks at a historic estate in the hills south of San Francisco, the two leaders emerged with agreements to cooperate and keep talking. Biden said he and Xi agreed that they should be able to call each other whenever they want.
Jessica Chen Weiss, a Chinese foreign policy expert at Cornell University, says Taiwan is a “huge factor” in the bilateral relations. She said both sides are not interested in adding a new element of instability. “For now, leaders and political candidates are pretty sure about the risks, but there will be reactions if we don’t do something.”
Weiss noted that ahead of Taiwan’s presidential election in January, even the island’s political candidates seem to be aware of the potential danger if things get out of control.
Biden-Xi and the U.S. PM: What is the Role of China in Reunifying the Self-Governed Island?
A senior administration official familiar with Wednesday’s conversation said Xi told Biden that China’s preference is for a peaceful “reunification” with the self-governed, democratic island.
According to the official’s tally, Xi also noted how he had heard reports that China was planning for military action against Taiwan in 2027, or 2035. “And then he basically said, there are no such plans,” the administration official said. The Chinese government has been contacted by NPR.
Speaking at an event in San Francisco ahead of the Biden-Xi meeting on Wednesday, Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong said “the entire country” was tuning in.
He said through an interpreter that if the two major powers couldn’t reach an agreement, it would negatively affect the region.
“They may not like what they say to each other, they may not like what they hear, and they may not resolve all the key issues that divide them. If they aren’t engaging, if they aren’t talking and if they are not involved in some sort of mechanism to air grievances or ask for clarifications, then there will be possibilities of miscalculation and accidents. And neither side wants that.”
“You can be cynical and say that talking and engaging and having discussions are not going to solve problems, and you wouldn’t be far wrong. But not talking to each other is no longer a low-risk proposition,” said Dave Finkelstein, director for China and Indo-Pacific Security Affairs at the Center for Naval Analyses, an independent research institute in Arlington, Virginia.
On wednesday evening, the meeting was praised by both the president and the head of state. In an address to business leaders from the U.S., the Chinese leader stated that there was plenty of room for both corporations and they could help each other achieve win-win outcomes.
Can this meeting help alter the trajectory of the relationship? Here are a few things from Wednesday’s meeting.
The U.S. National Zoo Bears: Where Are They? Where Are We? Where Do We Stand, and How Did We Get There?
I know the man. I know his modus operandi,” the U.S. president said. Biden claimed that he is a dictator because he is a communist leader who runs a country that is completely different from ours.
Top among them is an agreement to resume high-level military-to-military dialogue. Last year, these communications were halted after Nancy Pelosi went to Taiwan.
“That’s been something that has alarmed me,” Biden said. Accidents happen because of that. There was an agreement to reestablish the talks and Biden expressed relief that the issue had been taken care of.
The bears have long been the symbol of the U.S.-China friendship since Beijing gifted a pair of pandas to the National Zoo in Washington in 1972, ahead of the normalization of bilateral relations. Later, Beijing loaned the pandas to other U.S. zoos, with proceeds going back to panda conservation programs.
The National Zoo’s three giant pandas, Xiao Qik Ji, Mei Xiang, are currently in China, having left eight days ago. After their departure, only four pandas are left in the United States, in the Atlanta Zoo.
Xi meets Biden in San Francisco, but the two men agreed to cooperate on anti-narcotics and improve human-to-people relations
But relations showed signs of stabilization as Xi traveled to San Francisco to meet with Biden. The two men met for about four hours Wednesday at the picturesque Filoli Historic House & Garden, where they agreed to cooperate on anti-narcotics, resume high-level military communications and expand people-to-people exchanges.
The exchange agreement between the National Zoo and the China Wildlife Conservation Association was set to expire in December, but negotiations to extend or renew the deal didn’t produce any results.
