Both leaders agreed, however, that conflict should not be an option for any interactions between the two nations.
Biden and Xi, at the palatial Filoli mansion in California, reflected on their first meeting 12 years ago, when they were both vice presidents. While the two countries haven't always agreed, Biden lauded their meetings as "candid, straightforward and useful."
"I value our conversation because I think it's paramount that you and I understand each other clearly, leader to leader, with no misconceptions or miscommunication," Biden said.
For his part, Xi said the China-U.S. relationship is "the most important bilateral relationship in the world" and should be nurtured in a way that benefits everyone.
"For two large countries like China and the United States, turning their back on each other is not an option. It is unrealistic for one side to remodel the other. Conflict and confrontation has unbearable consequence for both sides," Xi said, speaking through a translator.
The meeting, which is billed as the U.S.-PRC Leaders Summit and is not an official part of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), is their first in a year amid growing tensions and mistrust between China and the United States over Taiwan, trade, the South China Sea and drug trafficking.
According to the White House, Biden will focus on three things during his sideline summit with Xi.
"One, not only improve and increase American investment in the region, but the region's investment in the United States," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday, aboard Air Force One, which was en route to San Francisco.
"Number two, lifting up and looking towards a vision for better international worker standards, cleaner environments, safe environments, collective bargaining, a chance for international workers to be able to compete on a level playing field," Jean-Pierre added.
"And number three, building a more inclusive economy across the region."
According to Biden's advisers, the leaders could also announce the resumption of military-to-military communications, which China suspended in the wake of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan in the summer of 2022.
The two leaders last met one year ago at the Group of 20 summit in Bali, Indonesia. Wednesday's meeting also marked Xi's first visit to the United States since 2017.
"Building on their last meeting in November 2022 in Bali, Indonesia, the leaders will also discuss how the United States and the PRC can continue to responsibly manage competition and work together where our interests align, particularly on transnational challenges that affect the international community," Jean-Pierre said in a statement last week.
While the meeting between Xi and Biden is not part of the summit, their meeting is seen as vital for both leaders amid a backdrop of world conflicts including the Israel-Hamas war.
"Both sides need to avoid blowing each other up," former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Rick Waters, the inaugural coordinator of the State Department's China House, said about the risk of conflict between the two countries. "That's the type of signal you need from a meeting like this."
"Xi needs the summit more than Biden does. He needs to show he's respected, that he has stature," said Minxin Pei, a political scientist focusing on China-U.S. ties at Claremont McKenna College. "He's definitely in a worse position than in November of last year."
Last month, Biden met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in what many believe was a precursor to Wednesday's summit with Xi.
According to the White House, Biden emphasized the "need to manage competition in the relationship responsibly and maintain open lines of communication."
"He underscored that the United States and China must work together to address global challenges," the administration said last month.
During a recent visit to Washington, D.C., Wang also held a two-day meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan to hash out international issues and state their positions.
On Tuesday, Blinken opened APEC -- a group of 21 countries that surround the Pacific Ocean -- and its summit in San Francisco where he welcomed leaders to the United States.
"Our engagement with APEC underscores the United States' enduring commitment to the vision that we all agreed in Malaysia in 2020: an open, dynamic, resilient, and peaceful Asia-Pacific community, one that enhances the prosperity of its people and future generations."
'Dynasty' to diplomacy for Xi-Biden summit estate
San Francisco (AFP) Nov 15, 2023 -
Don't expect Joan Collins to show up, but the California estate where Joe Biden and Xi Jinping met Wednesday is perhaps best known as the setting of the 1980s soap opera "Dynasty".
Built in 1917, the Filoli Estate at Woodside near San Francisco played host to a landmark summit that aims to reduce the risk of conflict between the world's largest economies.
Every detail of the China-US talks at the brick mansion with its white porticos and lush gardens in the northern California foothills has been carefully choreographed for maximum diplomatic effect.
The 56-room house will, however, look very familiar to fans of a different kind of drama that featured bigger hair and shoulder pads than those on offer from Xi and Biden.
It formed the backdrop to the primetime 1980s series starring John Forsythe as ruthless oil magnate Blake Carrington and Joan Collins as his scheming ex-wife Alexis Colby which became the most watched widely watched series in television history.
The front steps where Biden shook hands with Xi can be seen in the swooping overhead aerial shot of the Carrington family's home in the opening titles of "Dynasty".
The gilt-edged, frescoed ballroom where the Chinese and American delegations met was where Blake Carrington married his innocent secretary Krystle in the series premiere.
Later series used a soundstage based on the interior of the Filoli estate.
Located about 26 miles (40 kilometers) south of San Francisco, the property built by the Borne goldmining family boasts sprawling grounds with English-style gardens, ornamental ponds, an orchard and a path.
- 'Catfights' -
These days the estate can also be booked for weddings, ranging from $4,000 for a smaller ceremony to $65,000 or more for a more luxurious reception, according to its website.
The estate, open to the public since 1975 and now managed by a non-profit organization, owes its name Filoli to the first syllables of the motto of a former owner -- "FIght for a just cause. LOve your fellow man. LIve a good life."
But it has also become something of a pilgrimage site for fans of "Dynasty", with a special video on the website aimed at fans.
"Over the years the house and gardens hosted many glittering events, although perhaps none as dramatic as those featured on 'Dynasty' -- at least no real-life catfights as far as we know," says the video.
For his part, Xi will be no stranger to luxurious locations belonging to scandal-hit American tycoons, having met then-president Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida in 2017.
But Biden and Xi will be hoping on Wednesday that despite its television pedigree, the Filoli Estate will prove to be a calm setting for the two leaders -- with no cliffhangers and certainly no backstabbing.
Diplomatic negotiations have been going on for months to get the talks to happen, and to ensure that the even the most minute elements of protocol have been observed, US officials said.
The venue was kept secret even from members of the White House press corps traveling with Biden to San Francisco for the APEC summit until the morning of the talks.
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