US president Joe Biden and Chinese premier Xi Jinping are meeting today (14 November) ahead of the G20 conference in Bali as both countries attempt to improve relations following months of rising political and economic tensions.
Biden, fresh off a relatively successful set of midterm election results, met with Jinping one-on-one for the first time since he became US president, as reported by the BBC.
“I’m committed to keeping the lines of communication open between you and me personally,” Biden said in his opening remarks.
Jinping, who has secured a third-term as leader of China at the recent Communist party conference, said their countries joint relationship was not meeting global expectations.
Future relationship
Noting that bilateral relations had been particularly tense recently, the Chinese premier said: "the world expects that China and the United States will properly handle the relationship."
He also stated that he looked forward to working with his American counterpart in the future, according to Reuters.
“We share a responsibility to show that China and the US can manage our differences, prevent competition from becoming conflict and find ways to work together on urgent global issues,” he said.
Politico reports that despite the absence of any concrete achievements, the face-to-face meeting between the two leaders was a significant move towards de-escalation.
Trade
The meeting occurred as trade relations between the two economic powers have sunk to new lows and threatened to destabilise the global economy, particularly in the aftermath of Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.
As previously reported by the IOE&IT Daily Update, there were fears from the global shipping industry that China’s military drills around Taiwan were be set to become a “regular occurrence” for traders to deal with, causing worries over global supply chains.
The FT reported that the Chinese semi-conductor industry is struggling to maintain production levels as US export controls began to bite.
Sunak’s G20
UK prime minister Rishi Sunak has released his own five-point economic plan for the G20.
According to a Downing Street statement, Sunak will stress the need for coordinated global action to bring down the cost of living and end the war in Ukraine.
As part of this agenda, he will stress the need to open up global trade, including reforming the WTO and advancing bilateral free trade agreements, as well as pushing for an end to a ‘weaponisation’ of the food supply chain.