Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks with US President Joe Biden via video link from Beijing on Nov 16. (HUANG JINGWEN / XINHUA)

The virtual meeting between President Xi Jinping and United States President Joe Biden has charted the direction and injected fresh impetus into the growth of bilateral ties, officials and experts said on Nov 16.

Xie Feng, vice-minister of foreign affairs, said at a news briefing that the bilateral meeting was “candid, in-depth, constructive and fruitful”.

“If Chinese-US relations cannot return to the past, then we should face the future. China is without any illusions, but the nation remains confident and will maintain its strategic orientation,” he said.

Xie added that the nation will remain open to options that will benefit bilateral relations, and that Beijing is open to dialogue between the two heads of state in various forms, including face-to-face meetings.

A consensus from the summit, Xie said, is that both sides are opposed to a “new Cold War”. He said that other nations, including allies of the US, are also unwilling to retake the old path of the Cold War and be forced to take sides between the world’s largest and second-largest economies.

The videoconference between two leaders was a “more intense, engaged session” and different from their phone calls, said Jake Sullivan, US national security adviser.

The meeting underscored the guidance of the leaders in charting the course for the development of China-US relations.

“There is no substitute for direct leader-to-leader engagement to prevent miscommunication about our goals and motives or policies, and, of course, to give direction to our respective governments,” Sullivan said at a webinar hosted by the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank, on Nov 16.

The interaction will lead to senior figures on both sides being tasked with finding practical solutions to issues to reduce the possibility of friction and conflict, he said.

“You will see at multiple levels an intensification of the engagement to ensure that there are guardrails around this competition, so that it doesn’t veer off into conflict,” he said.

Ryan Hass, a senior fellow of foreign policy at the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution, said the virtual meeting gave more stability and restored functionality to the US-China relationship, which was “effectively dysfunctional” when Biden took office in January.

“I think that we are making strides between the United States and China in our ability to close this gap and expectations,” Hass said.

“I expect that we will continue to see sort of the pattern that we saw in the run-up to this meeting play out going forward.” The pattern is that the two leaders meet, identify key priorities, designate officials to follow up on those priorities and then they meet again to push things forward, he said.

Li Cheng, director of the John L. Thornton China Center, said the meeting was a “commendable success” for both sides under very difficult circumstances.

There has been good progress already in some areas, including visas for journalists, Li said, referring to reports that the two countries have reached a consensus to facilitate the work of journalists in each other’s country by easing the visa arrangement.

“There will also be some new positive changes in the economic and trade spheres between the two countries, and it will be a step-by-step process,” Li said, adding that the two sides have had some low-key cooperation recently, such as China buying natural gas from the US.

“It is hazardous if the US-China relationship falls vertically, and this summit has played a role in preventing such a vertical fall,” Li said.

The China-US virtual meeting can lead to “a working relationship that is pragmatic (and) acceptable to both sides,” said Oh Ei Sun, senior fellow at the Singapore Institute of International Affairs.

Oh said the summit will be “meaningful” if the two leaders can succeed in building a more pragmatic bilateral relationship. 

Oh noted that Xi has identified COVID-19 and climate as potential areas for cooperation, and in the recently concluded United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP26, at Glasgow in the United Kingdom, the US and China worked well in joining hands to combat climate change. “That’s a good start,” Oh said.

Lucio Blanco Pitlo III, research fellow at the Manila-based foreign policy think tank Asia Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation, welcomed the virtual summit, saying it was a “good signal for the world that the two major powers are finding ways to engage in high-level dialogue”.

The summit would put some guardrails or off-ramps in place to try to manage strategic competition, he said, as both sides “understand the risk of conflict, so they would try to mitigate the chances of miscalculation”.

Another key topic during the meeting was the Taiwan question, the most important and sensitive issue in bilateral relations.

Vice-Minister Xie said the Chinese public deplores the recent erroneous remarks and practices by the US on the Taiwan question as well as its attempts to confuse the one-China policy.

“It is equally important to put out a fire and to prevent a fire. We need to take the initiative to remove the ‘flammables’,” he said.

There is no room for China to concede over issues concerning Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet, as well as regarding maritime issues, all of which involve China’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and core interests, he said, urging the US to respect China’s interests and concerns.

Koh King Kee, president of the Centre for New Inclusive Asia, a think tank based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, said the key message from both leaders is that both sides are sincere about reducing tension and improving their relationship.

“Sound China-US ties are important not only to both countries, but also the people of the world,” Koh said, adding that China’s agreement to cooperate with the US on climate issues shows its sincerity in improving bilateral relations.

The US-China Business Council said on Nov 16 that close and regular contact between leaders and senior officials of the two countries is needed to successfully navigate strategic risks and intense competition, lower the temperature of the relationship, and constructively address myriad issues of shared interest with global implications.

“Given that US-China economic and trade ties have been a ballast of the relationship and can help manage strategic risks, we hope separate meetings will be scheduled soon to discuss economic and trade issues with China,” said Craig Allen, president of USCBC.

The USCBC and more than 20 other business associations in the US have urged the Biden administration to reduce tariffs on Chinese goods to provide relief to US citizens amid rising inflation.

“Tariffs put in place over the last several years continue to disproportionately cause economic harm to US businesses, farmers, workers and families,” wrote the USCBC and other business associations in a joint letter to US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Nov 12.

US importers have paid more than $110 billion for the so-called Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods, of which about $40 billion has been assessed during the Biden administration.

“We also request immediate action to significantly broaden the tariff exclusion process to provide additional relief to Americans.”

Some of the other 24 business associations that signed the letter include the US Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable, the National Retail Federation, American Farm Bureau Federation and the Semiconductor Industry Association.

Americans for Free Trade, a coalition of more than 150 industry associations fighting against tariffs, has also recently urged the Biden administration to remove tariffs on Chinese imports amid continued concerns over inflation.

Jonathan Gold, spokesperson for Americans for Free Trade, said in a statement earlier this month, “For the sake of Americans everywhere, it is time to bring the trade war with China to an end.”

Prime Sarmiento and Yang Han in Hong Kong and Xinhua contributed to this report.

Contact the writers at huanxinzhao@chinadailyusa.com