Xi Jinping Attends Dinner with US Business Leaders
"We Are Partners, Not Enemies... China Is Not a Threat"
Biden Calls Xi Jinping a "Dictator" Immediately After Meeting
Chinese President Xi Jinping met with business leaders on the 15th (local time) immediately after the US-China summit and stated that China desires a friendly relationship with the United States and does not seek to usurp the US position or pursue hegemony.
On the same day, President Xi attended a dinner with US business leaders held in San Francisco on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit and said, "The most important first question for us is whether we are enemies or partners."
Referring to US-China relations, he pointed out, "If we view the other side as a major competitor, the most significant geopolitical challenge, and an imminent threat, it will only lead to policy decisions based on misinformation, misjudgments, and unwanted consequences." He added, "(The US) seeing China as a threat is a mistaken perspective and can lead to zero-sum thinking," and emphasized, "The United States should not gamble against China."
President Xi held his second face-to-face summit with President Joe Biden near Woodside, close to San Francisco, just before the dinner meeting with US business leaders. It was 366 days after their first in-person meeting in Bali, Indonesia, last November. At the subsequent dinner with US business leaders, President Xi repeatedly conveyed the message that the two countries should see each other as partners, not enemies, and strive to build a friendly relationship.
President Xi stated, "China will not pursue hegemony or expansion regardless of the stage of development it reaches," and added, "We will not impose China's will on other countries." He emphasized, "China does not seek spheres of influence and will not engage in a Cold War or hot war with anyone."
He also directly mentioned that China does not want to usurp the United States' position. He said, "In my heart, I am always thinking about how to navigate the great ship of China-US relations," and expressed hope that California would take the lead in improving China-US relations.
During the face-to-face summit after one year, the two leaders agreed to restore military dialogue channels that had been suspended due to the deterioration of bilateral relations and to cooperate in blocking the distribution of fentanyl precursors, a narcotic painkiller. They also agreed to establish a dialogue channel to address the risks of artificial intelligence (AI). However, clear differences in views were revealed regarding export controls on advanced technology to China and the Taiwan issue.
Immediately after the summit, President Biden unexpectedly called President Xi a "dictator," dampening the achievements of the meeting held after one year. In a press conference following the summit, while evaluating that "substantial progress was made," he responded to a question about whether he still sees President Xi as a dictator by saying, "Well, look, he is." He explained, "He is someone who runs a communist country based on a completely different form of government than ours," and "In that sense, he is a dictator."
Foreign media pointed out that President Biden's dictator remark reveals the limits of efforts by the US and Chinese governments to ease tensions. The US political media outlet Politico noted, "President Biden's candid assessment of the Chinese leader reflects the increasingly cooling bilateral relationship," and added, "This remark could provoke a backlash from China. There are still flaws in US-China relations."
CNN evaluated, "Expectations for the US-China summit were low, and they met," and said, "Both sides want to avoid a catastrophic confrontation, but the trajectory of US-China relations is heading toward confrontation. However, it must be constantly managed to prevent it from erupting into open conflict."
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