TheKnight. Posted November 24, 2023 Posted November 24, 2023 President Joe Biden's meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping last Wednesday in California marked the first time in exactly one year and one day since the leaders of the two nuclear-armed rival countries met in person. A lot has happened since that day in Bali, Indonesia, last year. Both presidents have a long and urgent list of issues to deal with, including two bitter wars, an increasingly hot planet and a host of other highly flammable issues. The idea, or Biden's hope, behind the summit is that the two leaders would find a way to manage the competition between their countries in a responsible way: great powers, united as stewards of a dangerous world, working together to prevent it from getting out of control. At least, that was the hope. In practice, the goal would face - and will continue to face - an almost insurmountable obstacle, although more modest ones are worthwhile and achievable. Biden would like Xi to help lower the temperature of the ongoing wars in the world and prevent new ones from breaking out. But from Xi's point of view, open conflicts at present are detrimental to the US-led world order and therefore I think they are useful for his goal of seeing the United States fail as the world's pre-eminent superpower and of making it possible for China to emerge as an alternative. In a similar undertaking to Russia's President Vladimir Putin, Xi aspires to return his country to its historic greatness and power. As China ascends the regional and global landscape, Xi wants his autocratic system of government to gain international legitimacy, challenging American primacy. In fact, shortly after assuming power more than a decade ago, he secretly ordered a nationwide campaign against the values he described as "Western," such as democracy, human rights and freedom of the press. https://cnnespanol.cnn.com/2023/11/22/opinion-ghitis-obstaculo-ins uperable-biden-xi-trax/
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