Biden speaks to China’s premier at G-20, says economic woes make Taiwan invasion less likely

HANOI - United States President Joe Biden said on Sunday that he had held his highest-level talks with the Chinese leadership in months, adding that Beijing’s economic wobbles would not lead it to invade Taiwan.

Mr Biden said he met Chinese Premier Li Qiang, President Xi Jinping’s No. 2, at the annual Group of 20 (G-20) summit in New Delhi.

The talks were the highest-level meeting between the two powers since Mr Biden and Mr Xi spoke at 2022’s G-20 summit in Indonesia in November.

Mr Li, who

took over the country’s No. 2 post in March,

attended the gathering of world leaders in place of Mr Xi.

The two leaders were not expected to hold talks at the G-20, but unscripted encounters at summits are common.

“My team, my staff, still meet with President Xi’s people and his Cabinet,” Mr Biden told reporters. “I met with his No. 2 person in India today.”

He added that they “talked about stability”, and the Southern Hemisphere.

“It wasn’t confrontational at all,” said Mr Biden.

The two superpowers have been trying to thaw frosty relations in 2023 after a spat over a suspected Chinese spy balloon that flew over US territory, while fears of an economic slowdown have gripped Beijing.

Speaking at a press conference in Vietnam, Mr Biden touted the US economy as the “strongest” globally.

He told reporters that China’s growth was slowing due to a weak global economy as well as Chinese policies, but did not specify which policies.

Mr Biden called China’s economic situation a “crisis”, citing issues in the real estate sector and high youth unemployment.

“One of the major economic tenets of his plan isn’t working at all right now,” Mr Biden said of Mr Xi, without elaborating. “I’m not happy for that, but it’s not working.”

Mr Biden added: “He has his hands full right now.”

The 80-year-old Democrat is headed into a 2024 presidential re-election campaign, where his own handling of the economy and inflation has become a central concern for voters.

The US economy grew at a 2.1 per cent annualised rate in the last quarter.

Central bankers have sharply raised interest rates to bring inflation back down to target levels.

August trade data showed China’s exports and imports both narrowing their declines, joining other indicators showing a possible stabilisation in the economic downturn, as policymakers seek to spur demand and fend off deflation.

Mr Li has said that China should achieve its 2023 growth target of around 5 per cent, but some analysts think a worsening property slump, weak consumer spending and tumbling credit growth could mean lower growth.

Open dialogue

Mr Biden has tried to keep communications open with China to lower the temperature in international frictions including over Taiwan, the self-ruled island claimed by China.

“I don’t think this is going to cause China to invade Taiwan,” Mr Biden said of the country’s economic troubles.

“As a matter of fact, the opposite – (China) probably doesn’t have the same capacity that it had before.”

He described the US as a Pacific power with no intention of withdrawing from the region.

Mr Biden also said recent moves by Chinese officials to curb the use of US-designed Apple iPhones by state employees amounted to trying to “change some of the rules of the game” on trade.

“I am sincere about getting the relationship right,” he said. REUTERS