The future of U.S.-China relations after Biden’s final meeting with Xi

President Biden met on Saturday for the third and final time during his term with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Their sit-down was on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Lima, Peru. William Brangham speaks with Nick Schifrin about Biden’s goals for the meeting and what to expect when President-elect Trump takes the reins in two months’ time.
William Brangham:
Today in Lima, Peru, President Biden is meeting for the third and final time during his term with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The leaders of the two superpowers sat down together as President Biden prepares to hand the reins of this tense but consequential relationship back to President-Elect Trump.
Their sit down was on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, known as apec. Nick Schifrin is there now. Nick, very good to see you. Could you tell us a little bit about this meeting? What was the Biden administration’s goal here?
Nick Schifrin:
U.S. officials described the meeting as an attempt to take stock of their efforts to try and manage the competition between the U.S. and China, including increasing military to military communications and working together on fentanyl, AI and climate.
But William, as you know, the top of the agenda for all of these summits are always where China and the U.S. do not agree. And the top of that list, of course, is Taiwan. Last month, we saw Chinese military practice what they call blockading and assaulting the island in response to a speech by Taiwan’s new president, whom Beijing calls a separatist.
U.S. officials say that conflict in Taiwan or over Taiwan remains the most significant risk for U.S. and the world. U.S. officials also say that Biden will bring up China’s ongoing support for Russia’s defense industrial base, which is allowing Russia to continue its efforts in Ukraine and perhaps most immediately, William, China.
The U.S. is also bringing up what US Officials call a Chinese hack of American telecommunications firms that have led to theft of customer call records, the compromise of at least one phone to an adviser of President-Elect Trump, and Chinese being inside the system that those firms have built for law enforcement agencies, William, the U.S. is not expecting any breakthroughs on any of those issues.
William Brangham:
And Nick, how do the Chinese respond to those allegations about that hack and more broadly, what are their goals with this meeting?
Nick Schifrin:
The China calls U.S. claims of a hack disinformation. They even accuse the U.S. of inserting computer code to, quote, frame China. Instead, China highlights badly needed infrastructure development here and across the global south, including Xi Jinping’s first event here in Peru, inaugurating what will be the second largest port on the Pacific Ocean.
China replaced the U.S. as Peru’s largest trading partner a decade ago. The Chinese say Latin America is not, quote, in anyone’s backyard. That’s a direct dig at the U.S. and Xi Jinping personally ties Latin and Chinese cultures together and says they are the future.
Xi Jinping, Chinese President (through translator):
This is my third visit to Peru. The profound accumulation of ancient civilizations has endowed China and Peru with wisdom and broad mindedness and enabled us to see clearly the direction of history and follow the trend of the times.
Nick Schifrin:
The U.S. argues that port is worth a lot less than the $6 billion of foreign direct investment that the U.S. makes in Peru that creates 1.1 million jobs. Biden, though, also warned Peru’s president not to accept any quote, non-transparent deals and there are concerns about the transparency of the deal over that port.
But William, I spoke to Peru’s ambassador in Washington and he told me that look, quote, the U.S. needs to pay more attention to the continent. We are receiving interest from other parts of the world. Someone has to make the investment. He acknowledged us concerned about China, but said our solution is more American investment, not less Chinese investment.
William, South American officials don’t necessarily have an affinity for China, but they need Chinese investment.
William Brangham:
Nick, as you well know, in two months time, President-Elect Trump will take over, inherit all of these issues. Do you have a sense from Trump’s nominees thus far how the Trump administration might handle China?
Nick Schifrin:
Trump himself has warned that he will impose a 60 percent tariff on all Chinese goods and that will spark Beijing to retaliate and perhaps create a trade war. As for those picks, William, they are very, very important. Trump’s pick for Secretary of State, Senator Marco Rubio from Florida has long called for militarily and economically tougher posture on China.
Beijing’s actually sanctioned him twice and so they would need to lift those sanctions if the Secretary of State, the U.S. is top diplomat, were to ever fly into China. Trump’s pick for national security adviser, Mike Waltz has said the U.S. is in a cold war with the Chinese Communist Party. So all that suggests that the second Trump administration will be as confrontational as the first Trump administration was at the end of that administration.
But William, we saw tension between the pro-business and the national security crowd in the first Trump administration and perhaps we will see that again.
One example, Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, a senior adviser essentially to President-Elect Trump. He is very close to Chinese leaders and creates Teslas in China. And so we will see what that tug and pull ends up with in the new administration.
William Brangham:
Nick, this being the last meeting between Xi and Biden, is there any sense of any aspects of the Biden administration’s efforts that will endure beyond his term?
Nick Schifrin:
U.S. officials certainly hope so. And they cite one example during the Trump administration, which expanded the Quad, that is the Japan, U.S. India and Australia, and have really increased the amount of cooperation between those four countries.
And they believe that they have created an institutionalized relationship between the United States, Japan and South Korea. And they predict that the Trump administration will expand on that as Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, here in Peru, we reimagined.
Antony Blinken, U.S. Secretary of State: We reenergized, we revitalized, we strengthened, and we wove together our alliances and partnerships in new ways to try to advance an increasingly shared vision for a future that’s more free, more open, more secure, more prosperous, more resilient, more connected.
Nick Schifrin:
It’s those relationships that both the Trump administration and the Biden administration have used to try and respond to China’s aggressiveness in the region. But, William, whether any Biden administration efforts survive the Trump administration is, of course, going to be up to the new team.
William Brangham:
That is our Nick Schifrin in Lima, Peru. Nick, great to see you. Thank you so much.
Nick Schifrin:
Thank you.
William Brangham:
During their meeting today, Xi told President Biden that China’s goal of a stable, healthy relationship with the U.S. is unchanged following the presidential election. She said he is ready to work with the incoming Trump administration and to, quote, manage differences to benefit both nations.