Joe Biden & Xi Jinping discuss US-China bilateral, Taiwan, Ukraine in phone call

US President Joe Biden spoke with Xi Jinping, China’s leader, in a call Tuesday morning that was aimed at addressing a wide range of combative and cooperative issues, as the United States grapples with wars and other global crises, the White House said.

The topics on Biden’s agenda included fighting narcotics production, the Middle East conflict and China’s support of Russia during the Ukraine war, a senior administration official said.

Biden intended the talk to be a “check-in” rather than a summit with concrete outcomes, said the official, who spoke to a small group of reporters Monday night on the condition of anonymity, as is customary for such Washington briefings. But it was a crucial marker during a pivotal political year and as the countries try to steady a relationship that hit a multi-decade low last year.

The call took place days before a trip to China by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who will be followed soon afterward by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the official said. Those would be the first visits to China by Cabinet members this year; both officials traveled to Beijing last year to stabilize relations after tempers flared during the Chinese spy balloon episode.

Since last summer, Biden and Xi have sought to prevent any eruptions between their nations. Biden is seeking to focus on his tight race for reelection this year. Xi is grappling with a range of domestic issues, including a troubled economy and corruption in the top ranks of his military.

Biden and Xi held a face-to-face summit in November at a lush estate in Woodside, outside San Francisco. The two also met in November 2022 in Bali, Indonesia — their first in-person summit as national leaders — and had their last call in July 2022.

The senior US official told reporters that the call Tuesday was part of the administration’s efforts toward the modest goals of maintaining contact and managing competition “responsibly.”

Biden planned to raise two issues over China’s aggression in the Pacific: Taiwan and the South China Sea, the official said.

The Biden administration has warned China to rein in its coast guard ships, which have been firing water cannons at Philippine resupply ships in a contested area of the South China Sea. And the United States has said the Chinese military is using jets and ships in a provocative manner near Taiwan, the de facto independent island whose status is the biggest flashpoint between Washington and Beijing.

However, Biden also planned to reiterate to Xi that the United States abides by its “One China” policy, which recognizes the mainland People’s Republic of China as the sole legitimate government of China — while saying nothing about Taiwan’s status.

Like previous Chinese leaders, Xi has said Taiwan must be brought under Communist Party rule, by force if necessary. Biden has said four times that U.S. troops will defend Taiwan if China tries to invade. Those remarks were a deviation from the decadeslong efforts by the U.S. government to leave ambiguous whether the U.S. military would defend Taiwan from a Chinese assault.

Joseph Wu, the foreign minister of Taiwan, said in an interview with The New York Times in Taipei on Thursday that China had steadily increased its military activity around Taiwan, as well as its cyberespionage efforts and promotion of online disinformation, all amounting to “gray zone” aggressions short of a full war. “We need the U.S. to work closer with Taiwan,” he said.

The U.S. official said Biden wanted to stress to Xi that China must not continue helping Russia rebuild its military-industrial base. Russian arms production has been robust despite economic sanctions imposed by the United States and other countries after President Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The steady production of ammunition and missiles — as well as weapons aid from North Korea and Iran — is helping Russia in Ukraine.

China has picked up some areas of trade European nations have stopped, and that has allowed Russia to rebuild its weapons production capabilities, the official said.

Biden also wanted to get Xi to help curb the attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea by the Houthi forces of Yemen, an Iran-backed military group that says it will continue strikes as long as Israel carries out its war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the US official said. The Biden administration has pressed China to ask Iran to rein in the Houthis, especially since Chinese ships also pass through the Red Sea.

The official said Biden would like to cooperate further with China on several issues: limiting the export of chemicals used to make fentanyl, senior-level military-to-military talks, discussions over artificial intelligence, and climate change policy.