- By Kelly Ng & Fan Wang
- in Singapore
Beijing has hailed the assembly between Xi Jinping and Joe Biden as “historic” and “constructive”
The image of Xi Jinping and Joe Biden on a stroll in a Californian nation property continues headlining Chinese language media a day after what Beijing has hailed as a “historic” summit.
On social media, many Chinese language are calling for a “win-win” relationship.
It was the primary time the 2 presidents had met since November 2022.
The extremely anticipated assembly got here after US-China relations had hit a very low level. The spy balloon row in February additional derailed ties that had already been strained by China’s claims over Taiwan and the South China Sea, and US export bans on superior tech.
A string of visits to Beijing by senior US officers this 12 months sought to restore the injury – and Thursday’s assembly on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Financial Co-operation summit was seen as a breakthrough in itself.
There have been some wins. The 2 sides agreed to renew navy communications and work collectively to fight the circulate of fentanyl into the US. However the sticking factors remained too – from the so-called chip wars to thornier points similar to Taiwan. In direction of the top of a solo press convention, Mr Biden repeated his view that Mr Xi is a dictator, whereas answering a query.
China’s overseas ministry referred to as the comment “irresponsible political manipulation” nevertheless it does not seem to have soured Beijing’s portrayal of the assembly.
State broadcaster China Central Tv allotted nearly two-thirds of its every day night information bulletin to the Chinese language president’s outing in San Francisco, with about quarter-hour dedicated to the Biden-Xi assembly and one other quarter-hour to Mr Xi’s speech at a gala reception with outstanding American enterprise leaders later that night time.
“The assembly was constructive, complete and constructive… It will be a brand new start line for stabilising relations between China and the US,” the presenter stated, studying from the identical article that had been printed on Individuals’s Each day earlier.
In an try and painting the assembly as placing fraught relations again heading in the right direction, CCTV confirmed footage of Mr Xi being “warmly greeted” by his US counterpart upon his arrival on the Filoli Property, the nation home close to San Francisco the place they met.
Joe Biden and Xi Jinping meet on the sidelines of the APEC summit
“Biden additionally invited Xi to hitch him for a stroll across the property and personally escorted him to his automobile [at the end of the meeting],” wrote Individuals’s Each day.
Touting “in depth achievements” from the assembly, a World Instances editorial on Friday wrote: “We must always make the cooperation record longer and the pie of cooperation greater. Solely by doing so can China-US relations be steered towards a wholesome, steady, and sustainable course.”
Chinese language state media’s tone on the US had already shifted earlier this week – fairly abruptly – within the lead-up to the long-awaited assembly. The same old anti-US rhetoric was paused as retailers as a substitute pushed messages emphasising engagement and cooperation.
State information company Xinhua on Monday printed a narrative on Mr Xi’s friendships with American individuals. “The enduring power of such amicable bonds has at all times served as a wellspring of vitality for bilateral ties, each in beneficial and in difficult occasions,” stated the piece, which was accompanied by a dozen photos of Mr Xi’s visits to the US.
The sudden shift in tone was not misplaced on everybody: “Love or hate – the distinction is only a second,” a person wrote on Chinese language social media platform Weibo.
Others have been posting scene-by-scene updates from the assembly, with a number of hashtags associated to it trending all through the day.
The hashtag “the US reiterates it does not assist Taiwan independence” dominated Weibo for a number of hours. Different hashtags highlighted engagements between the 2 leaders. Customers appeared excited over private particulars similar to Mr Xi being introduced a Golden State Warriors’ jersey, Mr Biden strolling Mr Xi to his made-in-China Hongqi automobile and describing the car as “stunning”.
“This [meeting] is a historic second,” one Weibo person wrote, whereas one other struck a cautionary tone: “I hope the US can act on their phrases.”
Some reacted with disbelief and amusement to Mr Biden’s “dictator” comment, though it was swiftly minimize from official broadcasts inside China.
“If he stated ‘Xi is China’s emperor’ Xi would have liked it,” one other person quipped on X, which is banned in China.
Watch: How has Biden and Xi’s relationship modified?