President Biden says US-China relations will soon 'thaw'

Mr Biden acknowledged that relations between the two countries had deteriorated in the months following his talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit on the Indonesian island of Bali last November.

US President Joe Biden speaks during a press conference in Hiroshima, Japan on May 21, 2023. Photo: AP

The US decision in February to shoot down a Chinese balloon flying over US territory sparked a diplomatic row between the world’s two largest economies, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s planned visit to Beijing was subsequently canceled because of the incident.

On Sunday, at a press conference following the G7 summit in Japan, Mr. Biden was asked why a planned hotline between the United States and China was not working.

“You’re right, we should have an open hotline,” he said. “At the Bali summit, that’s what President Xi and I agreed that we would go ahead and meet… And then this silly blimp… flew over the United States. It got shot down and everything changed.”

However, Mr Biden stressed: “I think you'll see that start to thaw very quickly."

US officials have also discussed holding meetings with their Chinese counterparts. Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao is expected to travel to the US to attend an APEC meeting next week.

Huy Hoang (according to AFP, SCMP)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/tong-thong-biden-noi-quan-he-my-va-trung-quoc-se-som-tan-bang-post248607.html