From Filoli to future: Will the Dragon and Eagle fly together after Biden and Xi engage in unprecedented diplomacy?

Miles away from the madding high-level crowd of the APEC summit in San Francisco, at a secluded Filoli estate in Northern California President Joe Biden of the US was engaged with visiting Chinese Premier Xi Jinping in meetings, over a working lunch, followed by a garden stroll in a botanic landscape on 15 November. The Chinese side also preferred such a venue for the bilateral meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Mahabalipuram in October, 2019 over the busy capital New Delhi. The much awaited tete-a-tete between President Biden and Xi had a span of four hours, surprising the world. The pair candidly spoke a host of issues but this is also to notice that the duo hasn’t come up with a joint statement at the end of the meeting. The remark of President Xi, “the planet is big enough to accommodate China and the US”, proves his zeal to work with the US. In the presence of the pair, three major security talks were resumed. President Xi and Biden welcomed the reopening of high-level military-to-military talks. This will reduce the risk of strategic miscalculation. With this meeting between two leaders, the theatre commanders of China and the US will resume dialing up each other to converse. Ahead of COP28 meeting in Abu Dhabi, there’s no pressure on China to burn fossil fuels such as coal. The US and China are the largest greenhouse gas emitters in the world and both of them are massively investing in batteries as well as electric vehicles. But the two avoided any big announcement on the fronts of climate and environment protection. President Xi got a standing ovation at the assembly of American business elites. American Inc needs China and China relies on them to bring back the flow of the economy. The Biden-Xi November summit could be the last in-person meeting between the two leaders, before the US goes to poll next year. The two biggest economies have aspiration and zeal to scale to newer heights in the fronts of trade and commerce. President Biden reaffirmed that several trade policies, non-market economic practices and punitive actions against US firms are “unfair”. All of them have a negative impact on the American workers and their families. Ahead of the election year, President Biden will have to ensure the smooth flow of the economy. In the summit, President Biden categorically mentioned human rights violations in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. Clarifying that “One China” policy remains unchanged, President Biden signalled that Washington will not prick Beijing on Taiwan, unless there’s aggression. The Biden administration has earlier said of militarily protecting Taiwan, it is attacked by China. Interestingly, the meeting is just ahead of the election in Taiwan. Tsai Ing-wen, who assumed a second term, will not be able to contest the election, where China will jostle for placing an incumbent to toe the line. President Biden sought China’s involvement to de-escalate tensions with Iran, the other main adversary of Washington with whom Beijing shares considerably warmer ties. There’s nothing on paper or even an oral commitment to work on easing tensions, emanating from the Ukraine and Israel-Palestine conflict. But Indo-Pacific was tabled during the meeting. Beijing and Washington, who recently fought a bitter trade war will not take any risk, when it comes to commerce. Both of them are negotiating for better gains. China’s armed march and even the skirmish in the territories of America’s strategic ally India occurred in recent years. Washington not only remained a close observer of such provocative moves but also vehemently protested China’s aggression wherever possible. The two are prioritising their commercial interest over anything else. Neither of the two superpowers will come forward to bring embattled Ukraine or Israel in a peace talks. More the two other opponents fight, the more Beijing and Washington relax. The author is a journalist and geo-politics specialist. He can be followed on X/Koo @Ayanangsha. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost_’s views._ Read all the  Latest News,  Trending News,  Cricket News,  Bollywood News, India News and  Entertainment News here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.