Joe Biden and Xi Jinping break the diplomatic ice reaffirming their willingness to work together

• China The "red prince" who wanted to be like Mao: the challenges of Xi Jinping for life

Joe Biden and Xi Jinping arrived in Bali reinforced inside their respective houses.

The American celebrates that the Democratic Party has managed to retain control of the Senate in the mid-term legislative elections, while the Chinese, without polls in between, has revalidated a third term that makes him even more supreme leader and has surrounded by loyalists in high political and military positions.

With these letters, both sat at the same table on Monday, in what was their first face-to-face since Biden arrived at the White House.

It was finally time to break the enormous diplomatic ice block between the US and China.

Biden (79 years old) and Xi (69) greeted each other affectionately in front of a row of Chinese and American flags

when they met at the luxurious Mulia Hotel, one of the venues in paradisiacal Bali that will host several bilateral meetings on the sidelines between the leaders of the G-20.

"We spent a lot of time together when we were both vice presidents and it's great to see you again," Biden told his Chinese counterpart in front of reporters.

The American wanted the cameras to also capture his commitment to Xi to "keep the lines of communication open on a personal and government level."

Biden also noted that the world expects the two countries to work together to address global challenges such as climate change and food insecurity.

"As leaders of our nations, we share a responsibility, in my view, to show that China and the United States can manage differences, prevent competition from turning into conflict, and find ways to work together on pressing global issues that require our mutual cooperation." Biden said.

The ties between the two leading world powers have collapsed since the last time the two leaders shook hands at the Davos forum in 2017. "Since then, great changes have taken place like never before and the world has reached a crossroads "

. We must work together with the rest of the world to provide hope and confidence in global stability," Xi said at a meeting table where neither leader was not wearing a mask. , unlike their respective and large delegations that accompanied them at the same table.

Xi reiterated that he hoped to work with Biden to get the relationship back on the right track.

A relationship that is going through the worst turbulence since both countries normalized diplomacy in 1979, when they walked hand in hand against a common rival, the Soviet Union.

But the China of today is nothing like the China of 40 years ago.

The Asian giant has become an economic, military and technological superpower, seen by Washington as a threat to its hegemony, in low hours.

Beijing also goes hand in hand with Moscow in a strategic association with the West.

It has not endorsed the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but it does align itself with the Kremlin by providing tacit support for its narrative, copied by the Chinese propaganda media, in the service of the ruling Communist Party.

The previous time an American president shook hands with Xi Jinping was more than three years ago.

Donald Trump was in the White House, the pandemic was months away and bilateral relations, although experiencing friction due to the trade war, were much firmer.

Xi and Biden, who had very good personal harmony when they were both vice presidents, have spoken up to five times on the phone in the last year and a half.

But trust between the two nations today is rock bottom.

The open fronts between the two giants of the global chessboard have spread to so many fields that they have ignited a new and dangerous Cold War.

That is why Monday's meeting between Xi and Biden was very important:

, but the possibility is opened that both leaders are willing to reverse the total decline in relations between their countries, as it seems after the first words of cordiality dedicated by the leaders in front of the cameras, before continuing with the meeting behind closed doors.

The Taiwan Question

Beijing came to break with Washington in the summer key dialogue channels such as the one they maintained on climate change after Nancy Pelosi's provocative visit to Taiwan.

After the express passage through the island of the speaker of the House of Representatives, the Chinese army responded with an unprecedented invasion drill that lasted a week.

For China, the Taiwan issue is one of its red lines.

In October, during the Communist Party congress where Xi was reinforced, the Chinese president once again reiterated that the "peaceful reunification" of Taiwan with the mainland was one of his government's absolute priorities, and that the use of force remained One option.

Many in Beijing believe that Biden, who has said three times that his country will defend Taiwan in the event of an attack by China, is playing with fire by endangering the one-China principle, an agreement that dates back to the decade. of 1970 according to which countries can maintain formal diplomatic relations with China or Taiwan, but not with both.

After Pelosi's visit, Beijing also paralyzed all activity between the groups it had formed with Washington to discuss the repatriation of illegal immigrants, judicial assistance or the fight against transnational crimes.

China's countermeasures also meant the disappearance of the few channels that existed between the high commands of both navies, essential in the event that the tension in the Taiwan Strait ends in an armed confrontation.

The meeting with Biden in Bali and attendance at the G-20 summit marks the

locked up at home for more than two and a half years.

Aside from a brief trip to Central Asia in September for a regional security summit, where Xi met face-to-face only with leaders of neighboring countries, including Russia's Vladimir Putin, China's president has not ventured further since the start of the talks. pandemic.

In the warmth of home, after securing an unprecedented third term since the time of Mao Zedong, Xi is riding high.

No one within the Chinese regime dares to argue with the omnipresent leader.

Another image is projected abroad, where the threat to democratic Taiwan, the repression against activists in Hong Kong, the human rights violations against the Uyghurs of Xinjiang, recognized by the UN, or the regressive nationalist turn in China, which has with their borders closed since March 2020, they have damaged Xi's international reputation, especially in the West.

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