Summit eases tensions for now

Coming as it did at a dangerous time with war clouds gathering over Taiwan, Tuesday’s virtual summit between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping was opportune. It turned down the temperature in relation to Taiwan. But it did not totally allay the profound tensions between the superpowers, with China’s supreme leader warning the US President that he would take “drastic actions” over Taiwan if he felt provoked. China regards the democratic island of 23 million people as a wayward Chinese province. Such rhetoric was laced with hypocrisy, however. Just a day before the summit, in a show of provocation, six People’s Liberation Army fighter jets made flyovers near Taiwan. The issue of Taiwan is crucial from Australia’s perspective. Defence Minister Peter Dutton told The Australian last week that if the US committed forces to defend the island, it would be inconceivable that Australia, as an alliance partner, would not join in.

Preventing such a war, which could potentially kill and maim countless people, is crucial. For that reason, Mr Xi’s opening remark that the world’s two most powerful countries needed to “increase communication and co-operation” was welcome. So was his claim to be ready to work with Mr Biden, whom he described as an “old friend”, to “build consensus, take active steps and move China-US relations forward in a positive direction”. As Mr Biden told Mr Xi, they share a responsibility as world leaders to ensure the US-China great power rivalry does not “veer into conflict”. A “commonsense guardrail” is needed, Mr Biden said, to ensure systemic competition between the superpowers does not trigger military conflict.

The summit was important to keep the wheels of communication turning. Judging by both nations’ statements afterwards, it appeared to cool tensions.

In a statement issued after the meeting, the White House said Mr Biden “underscored that the United States remains committed to the “ ‘one China’ policy”. The US “strongly opposes unilateral efforts to change the status quo or undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait”, the statement said. Chinese broadcaster China Central Television concurred. Mr Biden offered reassurances, it said, that the US would “not support ‘Taiwan independence’ and that it would not seek to change the Chinese system of government”. After increasingly combative exchanges earlier in the year, both nations appear to have realised that a new tone was needed to prevent escalation. That could be accomplished only by the two presidents talking, US officials said. The leaders also discussed Afghanistan, North Korea and Iran, as well as climate change and human rights, with Mr Biden raising concerns about China’s practices in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. On climate change, the leaders were building off a surprise joint declaration in Glasgow last week pledging their “firm commitment to work together” to achieve the 1.5C temperature goal set out in the 2015 Paris Agreement.

The summit was the third conversation between Mr Xi and Mr Biden since the latter became US President in January. The White House described the meeting as “respectful, straightforward and open”, with both leaders diverging from their scripts to recount points of agreement and disagreement and quoting each other’s words. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hua Chunying said the meeting was “wide-ranging, in-depth, candid, constructive, substantive and productive”. “It helps increase mutual understanding,” she said.

While Mr Xi urged Mr Biden to return US policy towards China to “a rational and pragmatic track”, the Chinese leader did not restrain from warning the US what not to do on foreign policy. He warned the US, for example, not to build closer ties with Taiwan. “If Taiwan independence separatist forces provoke or even break through the red line, we will have no alternative but to take drastic measures,” Mr Xi said, according to China’s official newsagency.

In so far as the summit offers the chance for a partial reset of the US-China relationship, Mr Xi could do more to foster that reset by adopting the advice he gave Mr Biden to be “rational and pragmatic”. China’s military aggression in the South China Sea, for example, is a source of regional tension, as is its coercive misuse of its trading relationships with nations such as Australia. The summit was positive. But Australia must remain committed to strengthening weapons and cyber defence technologies under the vital strategy Scott Morrison will set out on Wednesday.