Talking 90 Minutes On The Phone, President Joe Biden And President Xi Jinping Want To Avoid Conflict

Illustration of President Xi Jinping and President Joe Biden. (Wikimedia Commons/US Department of State)

JAKARTA - US President Joe Biden spoke by telephone with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping for about 90 minutes on Thursday, a senior US official said, with the two leaders discussing the need to avoid allowing rivalry between the world's two largest economies to turn into conflict.

Relations between Washington and Beijing are at their lowest point in decades. Yesterday's call was the second since Joe Biden took office last January.

A White House statement said the two leaders had broad and strategic discussions, including areas where the interests of the two countries met, and areas where the interests, values and perspectives of the two differed.

The conversation focused on economic issues, climate change and COVID-19, a senior US official said.

Chinese state media said the conversation was frank and deep, adding President Xi Jinping said US policy in China poses great difficulties to relations between the two.

The Chinese report added that both sides agreed to maintain frequent contact and asked the working-level team to improve communication between the two countries.

After the first phone call, officials from the two countries held several high-level meetings, making little progress on issues ranging from climate change to human rights and transparency about the origins of COVID-19.

Over the following months, the two sides 'attacked' each other, throwing sharp criticisms in the media, including criticism of not upholding international obligations, and imposing sanctions on each other's officials.

"President Joe Biden underlined the United States' enduring interest in peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific and the world with the two leaders discussing the responsibility of both countries to ensure competition does not lead to conflict," the statement said.