One of the highlights of the G20 summit was the bilateral talks between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping
Both leaders were confident that the circumstances for the meeting were favourable. Xi was able to consolidate power in his hands at the CCP congress. Biden, on the other hand, was able to avoid defeating the Democratic Party in the congressional elections – and was keen to show that he was an early adopter as president – a “lame duck”.
The Chinese authorities have outlined their “red lines” for the US. These include, in particular, the continued pumping of arms into Taiwan. Xi, meanwhile, called on the US a month ago to build a bilateral system of global security together with China. That is, to institutionalise the confrontation between the two countries in order to prevent it from turning into a direct conflict.
In Washington, however, the U.S. is wary of China’s growing influence. China has joined the club of countries with two or more aircraft carriers. The Pentagon believes it is losing the arms race in the Pacific to China. And Beijing’s successes in strategic weapons are especially worrisome — China is expected to have about 1,000 nuclear warheads, along with hypersonic weapons, by 2030.
The Biden administration plans to further escalate the confrontation with China, but not to escalate it to open war. At the summit, however, Biden used the momentum to try to persuade China to put pressure on Pyongyang – in the context of ballistic missile testing and possible arms sales to Russia. And on Moscow – in the context of the Ukraine crisis.
Of the practical things, the main thing Washington is seeking is to restore military communications, which were severed by Beijing after Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan. China is demanding that such visits not be repeated. However, the Speaker of the House of Representatives will soon change – it is likely to be Republican leader Kevin McCarthy. He has already promised to visit Taiwan – and may do so at least in spite of Biden, nullifying any deal he made with Xi at today’s summit.
Malek Dudakov