BALI: President Joe Biden held a three-hour talk Monday, 14 November, with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, their first in-person encounter since Biden took office and an opportunity that both sides appeared to hope would lead to an improvement in rapidly deteriorating relations.

Emerging afterward, Biden told reporters he was “open and candid” with Xi about the range of matters where Beijing and Washington disagree. He cast doubt on an imminent invasion of self-governing Taiwan, and seemed hopeful his message about avoiding all-out conflict was received.

Still, the US president was frank that he and Xi came nowhere near resolving the litany of issues that have helped drive the US-China relationship to its lowest point in decades.

“I’m not suggesting this is kumbaya,” Biden said at a news conference, “but I do not believe there’s a need for concern, as one of you raised a legitimate question, a new Cold War.”

Biden entered Monday’s talks hoping for an opportunity to take stock with Xi of the world’s most important bilateral relationship. He described Xi as not overly confrontational but instead “the way he’s always been: direct and straightforward.”

“He was clear, and I was clear that we will defend American interests and values, promote universal human rights and stand up for the international order and work in lockstep with our allies and partners,” Biden said. “We’re going to compete vigorously but I’m not looking for conflict.”

In a sign both men arrived to meeting hoping to improve the souring relationship, Biden announced his Secretary of State Antony Blinken would visit China and said officials from each country would begin working together through issues. Formal talks on climate cooperation between the US and China are expected to resume as well as part of a broader set of agreements between Biden and Xi, two US officials tell CNN.

China previously halted talks – viewed by the Biden administration as a key area where the two nations must work together – as part of retaliation for the visit to Taiwan by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. The US and Chinese envoys for climate change are talking, but the Biden administration will see what China is prepared to do to make concrete progress, one of the US officials said.

US Climate Envoy John Kerry’s spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on whether formal climate talks between the two countries were back on.

The White House said in a statement after the meeting that Biden raised concerns about human rights and China’s provocations around Taiwan. But they found at least one area of apparent agreement – that nuclear weapons cannot be used in Ukraine, where that nation is trying to fight off a Russian invasion.

“President Biden and President Xi reiterated their agreement that a nuclear war should never be fought and can never be won,” a White House readout said, referring to the threat of nuclear weapons use in Ukraine.

Biden did underscore areas of potential cooperation with Xi, including on climate change, in talks that stretched past their expected time at a luxury hotel in Bali.

And he sought to convince Xi that a nuclear armed North Korea was not in China’s interests – particularly because further nuclear or long-range missile tests by Pyongyang could prompt Biden to scale up American military presence in the region.

“It’s difficult to determine whether or not China has the capacity” to convince Kim Jong Un to back off his tests, Biden said. “I’m confident China is not looking for North Korea to engage in further escalatory means.”

‘Good to see you’

The meeting began in the later afternoon with Biden and Xi walking toward each other from opposite sides of a hotel lobby, shaking hands in front of a row of US and Chinese flags. They smiled for cameras and Xi – through a translator – appeared to say, “Good to see you.”

“As leaders of our two nations, we share responsibility, in my view, to show that China and the United States can manage our differences, prevent competition from becoming anything ever nearing conflict and to find ways to work together on urgent global issues that require our mutual cooperation,” Biden said as the talks got underway.

“The world expects, I believe, China and the United States to play key roles in addressing global challenges,” he said.

Speaking second, Xi seemed to offer what could be interpreted as a pointed message to his counterpart, who has spent more than half-a-century on the world stage.

“A statesman should think about and know where to lead his country,” Xi said through a translator. “He should also think about and know how to get along with other countries and the wider world.”

The two leaders’ talks Monday could have consequences stretching months or even years as the world’s largest economies veer toward increasingly hostile relations.

The moments spent together on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit here will amount to only a fraction of the time the two men have been in each other’s company since 2011. Biden has claimed that as vice president, he spent north of 70 hours with Xi and traveled 17,000 miles with him across China and the United States – both exaggerations, but still reflective of a relationship that is now perhaps the most important on the planet.

(SOURCE: CNN)