No "cold war" between the United States and China

Audio 04:04

US President Joe Biden (left) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (right) will meet at a virtual summit on November 15.

© MANDEL NGAN, Anthony WALLACE / AFP

By: Anne Verdaguer Follow

4 min

A virtual summit is scheduled for Monday (in the evening, Washington time - early Tuesday in Beijing -) between US Presidents Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

This summit takes place as disputes accumulate between Washington and Beijing, each of which is firm on their positions, especially concerning trade.

The American president rejected the term "cold war" between the two countries, he nevertheless made the rivalry with Beijing the major axis of his foreign and economic policy.

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The Biden administration has maintained all tariffs imposed during the Trump era, and that on 350 billion dollars of Chinese products. For example, the Federal Communications Commission of the United States has given China Telecom, accused of spying, 60 days to stop its services on American soil, where the Chinese company has been present for twenty years. Washington had already attacked other telecom giants, Huawei and ZTE, which can no longer license network equipment in the United States.

On the Chinese side, sanctions are also raining with the closure of the Chinese version of the online game Fortnite since Monday, as well as LinkedIn, Microsoft's professional social network, and Yahoo, which have also left the Chinese market. The United States has also announced that it is looking closely at the trade agreement signed with China by the Trump administration, and in particular plans to take stock of the promises kept by Beijing.

But Washington also insists on the need, when possible, to cooperate with the great Chinese rival.

At COP26 in Glasgow, the world's two leading emitters of greenhouse gases pledged to further combat global warming with a surprise joint statement.

But while the Biden administration has identified environmental issues as a possible common ground between Beijing and Washington, tensions remain high.

The Indo-Pacific zone

: a huge economic stake

According to the White House, we should not expect much from this virtual meeting.

Because if Washington is so keen to establish a " 

relationship of president to president

 ", and to leave the communication channels open, the White House is not looking for " 

concrete results or decisions

 " according to the spokesperson.

The Biden administration has set itself three watchwords: cooperation, competition and confrontation.

On the side of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, it is estimated that the two parties should meet " 

each halfway

 ".

In the background, and beyond the trade war between China and the United States, there is an enormous economic stake: the Indo-Pacific zone which alone represents 60% of the world GDP and which has become the engine. of global growth. Washington wishes to see the 21 countries that constitute it return to its fold. At the APEC summit, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum, last week, Joe Biden took the opportunity to discuss " 

ways to unleash the economic power of the region

 " and reaffirmed his will " 

to be a solid and reliable partner

 ”of these countries.

For its part, Beijing claims almost all of the South China Sea, rich in natural resources, and through which billions of dollars of maritime trade transit each year, refusing the claims of Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, from Vietnam and Taiwan.

Taiwan

: catalyst for Sino-American tensions

Tensions have escalated in recent weeks over Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a rebellious province.

China is trying to isolate the island and has stepped up military activity near Taiwan.

In response, Washington reiterated its commitment to help Taipei build and strengthen its defense.

Taiwan is an industrial power with which the United States trades more than with France, it indeed crystallizes today all the Sino-American tensions while China recently released the ultimate weapon: to isolate the international companies that work with Taiwan by closing the Chinese market to them.

China and Taiwan also began at the same time negotiations to integrate the CPTPP, a regional free trade agreement supported by Japan, which does not fail to fuel tensions.

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  • Economy

  • Trade and Trade

  • United States

  • China

  • Joe biden

  • Xi Jinping