Biden and Xi agree to re-establish military dialogue and fight fentanyl trafficking

After a year marked by tensions between Washington and Beijing, the president of the United States, Joe Biden, met with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jiping, during a four-hour meeting in the city of San Francisco. The meeting, which took place on the sidelines of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, has been watched with great anticipation due to its potential global implications.

During the face-to-face talks between the two leaders, described by Biden as "constructive and productive", it was agreed to re-establish the military dialogue, suspended by Beijing after the then speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, visited Taiwan, an island that Beijing claims as its own. Resuming this dialogue was one of Washington's objectives for the meeting, as well as reaching an agreement to deal with the fentanyl crisis.  

On this point, Biden and Xi agreed to combat the trafficking of this drug, which is already the main cause of death by overdose in large US cities. China has a key role to play in this crisis, as it is in the Asian giant that a large quantity of this drug is produced.

In fact, last October, Washington sanctioned a Chinese network for supplying substances to drug traffickers, such as Mexican cartels, to manufacture fentanyl and other synthetic drugs. Months earlier, the US had already accused several Chinese chemical companies of trafficking substances used to make fentanyl.

During the meeting, Beijing has promised to prosecute and punish companies that produce these fentanyl precursor chemicals, which Biden said would "save lives".  

In addition to military communications and the fentanyl crisis, the two leaders agreed to establish dialogues on artificial intelligence and stressed the urgency for the two countries to address the climate crisis, as reported in Chinese state media.

Despite reaching some common ground, some differences between the two superpowers also emerged during Xi and Biden's "frank and direct" talks. Taiwan remains the sticking point between Washington and Beijing, as does economic competition.

On the island, which Xi said is the most dangerous issue in US-China relations, the Chinese president has insisted on "peaceful unification". Biden, for his part, stressed that Washington's goal was to maintain peace and stability in the region. 

According to Chinese media outlet Xinhua, Xi also urged the US to stop arming Taiwan and support the "peaceful reunification" of China. In contrast, Biden stressed that the US is committed to continuing to help Taiwan defend itself and maintain deterrence against a possible Chinese attack. He also called on Beijing to avoid meddling in next year's elections on the island, as a senior US official revealed to the Associated Press.

However, despite China's heavy militarisation around Taiwan, the US delegation concluded the meeting by ruling out any Chinese invasion of the island.  

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