Following lengthy discussions with President Joe Biden, Chinese President Xi Jinping and US Vice President Kamala Harris urged for open communication during a brief encounter on Saturday.
During the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Bangkok, Harris talked to the Chinese leader as they entered a retreat, a White House official claimed.
The person spoke on the condition of anonymity and added that the Vice President reiterated Biden’s point that “we must keep open lines of communication to appropriately manage the rivalry between our countries.”
After North Korea conducted a ballistic missile test on Friday, which according to US and Japanese authorities was capable of striking the US mainland, the US stated it wanted China to do more to restrain its ally. This prompted the meeting.
Xi, who is visiting another country for the first time since the outbreak, has met with other international leaders in Bangkok and earlier this week at the G20 conference in Bali.
The first in-person discussions between the heads of the two biggest economies in the world since they both took office took place on Monday during a three-hour meeting between Xi and Biden at a hotel on the Indonesian tourist island.
Both sides gave the meeting a good spin by stating they wanted to work together on issues like climate change and stop recent tensions from getting out of hand.
According to Xi, his discussion with Biden was “strategic and productive, and has key guiding importance for China-US ties in the next stage,” as reported by Chinese official media on Saturday.
According to the newspaper, Xi continued, “It is anticipated that the two sides would further improve their mutual understanding, lessen misunderstanding and misperception, and jointly push the return of China-US ties to a healthy and stable track.
