(CNN) – American officials revealed to CNN details of the talks that took place between US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, which took place on Wednesday in California.
An American official said: “Biden spoke in most of the conversations about the Middle East while Jinping listened.”
The official added that the US president has encouraged his Chinese counterpart to “use Beijing’s influence on Iran to warn of a broader escalation,” and the source continued that Foreign Minister Wang Yi has said that “they have already had discussions with the Iranians on this issue.”
According to the US official, it was not clear to Biden aides at the time how seriously Iran took China’s messages.
The official said Biden told the Chinese president during the talks that he “considers the Hamas movement separate from the Palestinian movement.”
Regarding Taiwan, the two leaders exchanged “significant” views, and the Chinese president explained that “concerns about the island are the biggest and most serious issue in US-China relations,” and stated that “ China prefers peaceful reunification and sets the conditions under which force will be used.”
For his part, Biden responded by reiterating America’s position to maintain peace and stability in the region, and the United States called on China to “respect the presidential election process” that will take place in Taiwan in January.
Despite ongoing US concerns about China’s massive military buildup around Taiwan, US officials walked away from the meeting believing the Chinese president was not preparing for a full-scale invasion, according to the sources.
On the other hand, Chinese official media reported that the Chinese president told his American counterpart that the United States must “take real measures to uphold its commitment not to support Taiwan’s independence, and urge the United States to stop arming Taiwan and support the peaceful reunification of China.” ,” according to China’s official news agency (Xinhua).
Xi’s comments on Taiwan come as the self-governing island prepares to hold presidential elections, with tensions with China set to top the campaign agenda.
China’s ruling Communist Party claims Taiwan as part of its territory, although it has never controlled the island of 23 million people.
A U.S. official said the talks were “very direct” on technology, economics and nuclear issues, and included more back-and-forth discussions between the two leaders than at their meeting a year ago, as Biden was “very frank ” with Xi on the issue. a number of issues, while the Chinese president also expressed his concerns about… Speech in the United States regarding China, telling Biden that he believes there is “unfair negative propaganda” about the Chinese Communist Party in the United States United.
Regarding the restrictions the United States has implemented on technology exports to China, Xi likened these measures to “technological containment” and Biden responded that the United States “will not provide China with technology that can be used militarily” against of it.
Biden also directly expressed concern to Xi about harassment of American companies in China, and they discussed the issue of artificial intelligence and agreed to work together to advance the new technology, the official said.
Biden also told Xi that “it is important for China to be more transparent on nuclear issues as it rapidly expands its arsenal.”
Biden and Xi also agreed to “take measures to limit fentanyl production and restore military communications, and Xi also agreed to mechanisms that would address potential military errors,” and also emphasized their desire to stabilize relations between the two countries after months of growing tension. .
Interestingly, the US president announced on social media that he had made “real progress” in his talks with the Chinese leader and said: “I appreciate the conversations I had with President Xi today because I believe it is very important that we understand each other clearly, leader by leader,” and added: “There are critical global challenges that require our shared leadership, and today we have made real progress.”
Biden told CNN correspondent MJ Lee after the talks that he still believes the Chinese president is a “dictator,” but stressed that they have “made progress” in the talks.
He said: “He is a dictator in the sense that he is a man who runs a communist state based on a form of government completely different from our system. However, we have made progress.”
Biden compared his Chinese counterparts to “dictators” in June, after the United States shot down a Chinese spy balloon.
The US president said at the time: “The reason Xi felt so upset is that he didn’t know he was there, and that’s what is a great embarrassment to dictators, when they don’t know what happened.”
(tagToTranslate)Middle East