Biden’s Crisis-Proof Strategy: Why He Wants a Chat with Xi Before the Summit

On February 17, 2012 (local time), then-U.S. Vice President Joe Biden (right) and Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping are seen holding T-shirts gifted by students at the International Language Research Center in South Gate, California./AP·Yonhap News

On November 14 (local time), U.S. President Joe Biden stated that the success of the upcoming U.S.-China summit would be measured by restoring a relationship where both leaders could communicate over the phone during a crisis.

After announcing his plan for climate change response investments at the White House, President Biden responded to a question about the success criteria for his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, scheduled for the following day in San Francisco. He said, “The goal is to return to normal communication so that we can call each other when a crisis hits and maintain contact between our military authorities.”

This plan suggests that he hopes to restart the halted defense talks and restore the severed military communication ties with President Xi at their first face-to-face summit in a year, thereby preventing the escalation of crises due to mistakes, misunderstandings, or miscommunications.

Earlier, Jake Sullivan, the White House National Security Advisor, revealed in an interview with CBS and CNN on the 12th that the restoration of U.S.-China military communication was President Biden’s ‘top agenda item’ and that he would push for the reconstruction of military relations in the meeting with President Xi.

U.S.-China defense talks were halted after U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August 2022. The Biden administration has repeatedly requested a resumption, but China has not responded.

Even if President Biden and President Xi agreed to resume defense talks, it may be challenging to hold a meeting of defense ministers for the time being because no successor has been appointed since the dismissal of Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu.

According to Pentagon spokesperson Pat Ryder, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has no plans to meet with Chinese senior officials at the ASEAN Plus Defense Ministers’ Meeting held in Jakarta, Indonesia.

U.S. President Joe Biden (right) and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands at a summit meeting held in Bali, Indonesia, where the G20 Summit was held on November 14, 2022 (local time)./AFP·Yonhap News

In addition, President Biden stated, “We are not trying to decouple from China. What we are trying to do is to improve our relationship.”

This statement, a step forward from the previous stance of pursuing competition rather than conflict and derisking rather than decoupling with China, is interpreted as an intention to emphasize cooperation over conflict between the U.S. and China, using the meeting with President Xi as an opportunity.

The areas of U.S.-China cooperation identified by the Biden administration include climate change, the Ukraine war, the war between Israel and Hamas, North Korea’s denuclearization, and fentanyl production.

However, disagreements are expected to surface in issues such as Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific, advanced technology fields such as AI and semiconductors, and trade and economic sectors.

President Biden also pointed out that the existing trade and investment practices with China need to change, stating, “We will not continue to support the situation where we have to hand over all business secrets if we want to invest in China.”

By. Ha Man Joo