“When it comes to U.S.-China relations, the gaps are so big and the trend lines are so problematic that the personal touch can only go so far,” said Matthew Goodman, who served as an Asia adviser on the National Security Council in the Barack Obama and George W.
Biden bristled in June when asked by a reporter if he would press his old friend to cooperate with a World Health Organization investigation into the coronavirus origins.
Biden and Xi, ages 78 and 68 respectively, first got to know each other on travels across the U.S.
Monday’s meeting — the two leaders’ third engagement since Biden became president — comes amid mounting tensions in the U.S.-China relationship.
Chinese military forces held exercises last week near Taiwan in response to a visit by a U.S.
Bush faced ridicule after his first meeting with Russia’s Vladimir Putin when he claimed that he had “looked the man in the eye” and “was able to get a sense of his soul.” Bush would go on to host the Russian leader at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, and bring him to his father’s estate in Kennebunkport, Maine, where the 43rd and 41st presidents took the Russian president fishing.
Some top Biden administration officials speculate that with Beijing planning to host the Winter Olympics in February and Xi preparing to be approved by Communist Party leaders to serve a third five-year term as president next October — unprecedented in recent Chinese history — that there’s plenty of reason for the Chinese leader to look to stabilize the relationship in the near term, according to a person familiar with administration thinking.
Biden would have preferred to hold an in-person meeting with Xi, but Xi has not left China since before the start of the coronavirus pandemic.