Europe 1 with AFP 5:46 p.m., November 14, 2022

During a meeting lasting more than three hours, US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed sensitive topics, sources of tension between the two powers.

Taiwan, war in Ukraine, climate ... The two heads of state were able to discuss face-to-face for the first time since the election of Joe Biden in 2020.

Taiwan, economy, North Korea or war in Ukraine: Joe Biden and Xi Jinping spoke to each other for some three hours on Monday for an interview, described as "sincere" by the White House, aimed at ironing out the many areas of disagreement between the two rival powers.

The leaders of the two rival powers were speaking for the first time since President Biden entered the White House, on the eve of the G20 summit being held Tuesday and Wednesday on the Indonesian island of Bali.

Over the past three years, the rivalry between the world's two largest economies has intensified as China has grown in power and assertiveness, challenging US leadership and the geopolitical game since the end of World War II.

The world is 'big enough' for the US and China to thrive

Chinese President Xi Jinping told his US counterpart Joe Biden on Monday that the world was big enough for their two countries to prosper and compete, while warning Washington against crossing the "red line" on Taiwan.

"Under the current circumstances, China and the United States share more, not less, common interests," Xi told Biden during a three-hour meeting in Bali, Indonesia, the report said. Chinese Foreign Ministry in a statement.

Beijing does not seek to challenge the United States or "change the existing international order," Xi added, calling on the two sides to "respect each other," the statement said.

Xi, however, warned Biden not to cross the "red line" regarding the self-governing island of Taiwan, which the Chinese government claims.

China does not foresee 'imminent' invasion of Taiwan, says Biden

US President Joe Biden does not believe China is considering an "imminent" invasion of Taiwan, he said on Monday after meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, who warned him not to cross a "red line ".

"I don't think there is an imminent attempt by China to invade Taiwan," the US leader told reporters after talks on the Indonesian island of Bali.

"He has made it clear that he wants a peaceful resolution" to this dispute, he added.

"I'm convinced he understood very well what I was saying, and I understood what he was saying."

The island and the mainland have been governed separately since 1949, but the communist regime claims sovereignty over Taiwan.

Joe Biden himself has sown doubt in the past by repeatedly repeating that the United States was ready to use force in the event of a Chinese invasion, breaking with the traditional American ambiguity.

Relaunch of climate cooperation

The United States and China, the world's two largest emitters of CO2, will resume their cooperation in the face of the climate crisis, interrupted last summer due to tensions between the two countries around Taiwan, according to the White House.

Following the meeting between Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping in Indonesia, the major powers agreed to resume work on "transnational challenges", the White House said in a statement, citing the change climate as the first of them.

“The two leaders agreed to ask senior officials to maintain communication and deepen constructive efforts on these and other issues,” he added.

Cooperation between the world's two largest emitters has nevertheless been crucial to achieving progress in nearly 30 years of climate negotiations under the aegis of the UN - in particular to lead to the historic Paris agreement in 2015.

But relations turned sour after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August and the US banned sales of advanced microchips to China.