Xi and Biden spoke on the phone for 105 minutes: what does this say about their relationship?

By Stefan Wolff, University of Birmingham

US president, Joe Biden, and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jingping, talked on the phone this week for the first time since meeting in November. While the call signals both sides’ interest in stabilising their relationship, it also underscores the significant international, and national challenges, that Beijing and Washington face.

Xi and Biden are believed to have covered Taiwan, the possible US TikTok ban, tariffs and Chinese support for Russia, in the 105 minute call.

This phone call builds on the agreement between the two presidents at their face-to-face meeting in San Francisco last November to keep channels of communication open. It also indicates a potential return to the more frequent direct interactions of 2021 and 2022, and a slight thawing of the relationship between the two countries.

Together with an uptick of interactions among senior officials, the call is part of what appears to be a rediscovery of the art of diplomacy. Recent significant meetings include those of US national security advisor Jake Sullivan and secretary of state Antony Blinken, respectively, with the Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, in Bangkok at the end of January and in Munich in February, as well as a forthcoming trip of US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen to Beijing.

Both the Chinese and US statements have emphasised the “candid and constructive” nature of the call.

The candour is obvious from the many areas of disagreement between them, from trade tariffs to the future status of Taiwan, to name but two. What is more constructive in the relationship now is that Beijing and Washington appear to be committed to leave the February 2023 weather balloon incident behind them and prioritise face-to-face over megaphone diplomacy. How far this will mend a relationship that is still characterised by deep distrust over each side’s ultimate goals, however, is not clear.

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