Beijing points out the inadmissibility of the policy of containing China and calls on Washington to lift unilateral sanctions. This statement was made by Chinese President Xi Jinping at a meeting with the head of the White House, Joe Biden. The words of the Chinese leader are quoted by the Xinhua news agency.

According to Xi Jinping, American restrictions are damaging China's science and high-tech industry. At the same time, as the President of the People's Republic of China noted, in the development and growth of his country, "there is an internal logic that external forces cannot stop."

"The United States has continuously taken measures against China in terms of export controls, investment reviews, and unilateral sanctions that seriously harm China's legitimate interests... We hope that the U.S. side will take China's concerns seriously and take action to lift unilateral sanctions to ensure fair and non-discriminatory conditions for Chinese companies," RIA Novosti quoted Xi Jinping as saying.

At the same time, the President of the People's Republic of China stressed that Beijing is committed to building sustainable Sino-American relations. At the same time, he drew the attention of the head of the White House to the determination of the Celestial Empire in defending its national interests.

According to Xi Jinping, Beijing and Washington should not allow their differences to lead to conflict between the two powers. From the point of view of the President of the People's Republic of China, confrontation will entail "unbearable consequences for both sides."

"China never bets on the U.S. to lose, never interferes in U.S. internal affairs, and never seeks to challenge or replace the U.S.," he added.

Direct Contacts

Recall that the meeting of the leaders of the United States and China took place on November 15 at the Filoli estate near San Francisco. After a four-hour conversation, Biden and Xi Jinping decided to take a short walk, but did not hold a joint press conference. However, both leaders plan to take part in the events of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, which is taking place these days in San Francisco.

In turn, Biden, during a conversation with reporters, said that thanks to talks with the President of the People's Republic of China, he managed to achieve "some important progress" in bilateral relations. According to the head of the White House, Washington and Beijing are resuming cooperation in the fight against drug trafficking and will restore direct military contacts.

"Secondly, and this is extremely important, we are resuming direct military contacts. As many of you who are following the situation know, they have been interrupted, which is worrying. Misunderstandings cause accidents. So we're going back to direct, open, and clear communication on a face-to-face basis," Biden said.

According to the head of the White House, he discussed a wide range of topics with his Chinese counterpart, including the Ukrainian conflict and the situation around Taiwan. The American leader also expressed concern about the situation in the South China Sea, in the waters of which Beijing is developing military infrastructure and regularly conducts naval exercises.

Answering a question from a CBS correspondent about China's increased military activity in the South China Sea, Biden recalled the creation of the QUAD (Australia, India, the United States and Japan), military cooperation with the Philippines and the decision to provide Australia with nuclear submarines as part of the AUKUS alliance agreements.

However, Biden called Washington's primary task to prevent an open conflict with Beijing while maintaining strategic rivalry.

  • U.S. destroyer in the South China Sea
  • Legion-Media
  • © U.S. Navy/EYEPRESS

"The United States will continue to actively compete with China, but we will approach this competition responsibly so that it does not result in a conflict or an accidental conflict," the American president explained.

Nevertheless, at the end of the conversation with journalists, Biden did not abandon his negative assessment of Xi Jinping's domestic political activities and again called his colleague a "dictator."

"He (Xi Jinping. — RT) and is a dictator in the sense that he leads a country that... It is a communist country based on a completely different form of government from ours. Either way, we've made progress," Biden concluded.

"In a difficult phase"

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning called Biden's statement about Xi Jinping erroneous and irresponsible.

"This statement is extremely wrong and irresponsible. China resolutely opposes political manipulation," the Chinese diplomat said at a press briefing.

Commenting directly on the results of the talks, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters that a "deep exchange of views" took place at the estate near San Francisco on the most pressing issues, including the Middle East and Ukrainian conflicts.

As the Chinese foreign minister said, the summit between Xi Jinping and Biden "has strategic importance and far-reaching consequences." According to Wang Yi, the two leaders outlined a plan for the sustainable development of China-US relations. The diplomat did not announce any details of these agreements.

The results of the summit between Xi Jinping and Biden will be analyzed by Moscow, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in a comment to RIA Novosti. According to the diplomat, Washington and Beijing "are in a difficult phase of dialogue and relations." One of the reasons for this state of affairs is the many unfounded claims from the American side.

"There are a lot of different conditions and requirements, some far-fetched attempts to limit normal work in various areas, including the economic sphere, in the high-tech sphere. It is not easy for Washington and Beijing to develop approaches to discussing regional issues," Ryabkov said.

According to the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, China and the United States are currently resuming cooperation on arms control. Moscow positively assesses this process, but does not expect that such cooperation will change the overall situation in the field of strategic stability.

Experts interviewed by RT believe that one of the main topics of the talks was the tense situation in the South China Sea, which in recent years has turned into a sphere of rivalry between the US Navy and the PLA Navy (People's Liberation Army of China).

  • PLA Military in the South China Sea
  • AP
  • © Wally Santana

"I think that the resumption of direct military contacts can be interpreted as a certain step towards reducing the number of incidents in the South China Sea, and in particular near Taiwan. Both countries do not want provocations to escalate into a tough conflict," Sergei Sanakoyev, head of the Russian-Chinese think tank, told RT.

At the same time, as the expert noted, the restoration of contacts between the military of the United States and China does not cancel the fundamental political contradictions between Washington and Beijing in the Asia-Pacific region (APR).

According to Sanakoev, Washington will not abandon the course of containing Beijing's military activity, will continue to supply weapons to Taipei and develop AUKUS, an alliance that has "too obvious anti-Chinese coloring." In this regard, the PRC will not make any concessions to the United States on the Taiwan issue.

"Most likely, in personal communication, Xi Jinping once again conveyed to Biden the thesis that the complex of issues around Taiwan are red lines that the United States should not cross. Moreover, Beijing will demand that the United States publicly recognize the island as an integral part of China and in the future refuse to supply weapons and any support to the separatists," Sanakoyev said.

According to the RT interlocutor, the meeting in San Francisco demonstrated Beijing's determination to fight with Washington for its interests in the Asia-Pacific region.

A similar point of view is shared by the head of the Center for Military-Political Studies of the Institute of the United States and Canada of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladimir Batyuk. In a conversation with RT, he noted that the main goal of personal contacts between the leaders of China and the United States is to prevent the uncontrolled degradation of bilateral relations. On other issues, Xi Jinping and Biden have failed to find a compromise.

"The San Francisco summit demonstrated the lack of common ground between the United States and China on almost the entire spectrum of political issues. The agreements that Biden announced do not fundamentally change anything and do not look promising," Batiuk says.

  • Chinese President Xi Jinping's meeting with US President Joe Biden
  • AP
  • © Doug Mills/The New York Times

At the same time, the expert does not rule out that as a result of the summit, Beijing and Washington may somewhat improve trade and economic relations, which were noticeably complicated during the presidency of Donald Trump. However, for this to happen, the United States will have to soften unilateral sanctions against China.

"It is possible that the face-to-face interaction between Xi Jinping and Biden was also an attempt to separate politics from economics. Time will tell how successful it was. However, we see that China categorically does not share Washington's approaches not only in the field of politics, but also in the field of various restrictions for its companies, including direct sanctions against them," Batiuk concluded.