SAN FRANCISCO. He US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinpingthey agreed reduce tensions, resume communications between senior military commanders and cooperate in anti-drug policiestwo important results from their first face-to-face conversations in a year.

a smiling Biden greeted Xi after the Chinese leader got out of a limousine in the opulent Filoli Garden in California, 50 kilometers from San Francisco.

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The conversation, on the sidelines of the annual summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC), It is an attempt to moderate the tone of the powers on issues such as Taiwansanctions, commercial exchange and drug trafficking.

Biden, flanked by the Secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellen, and Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, He stated: “President, we have known each other for a long time. We have not always agreed, but our meetings have always been frank and direct.”

He Chinese leader, who heard his counterpart through translation, said that “Turning your back is not an option.”

“Planet Earth is big enough for both countries to be successful. As long as you respect each other, coexist in peace, you will be fully capable of overcoming your differences,” he added. Xi.

At the end of the meeting, which lasted four hours, Biden said the talks went “well” and that “today we achieved concrete progress.”

“I value the conversation I had with President Xi”Biden said on the X network. “And today we have made real progress.”

China and the United States agreed resume the high-level communication between its two military forcesincluding working meetings between defense departments, Chinese media said.

China broke contacts after the then president of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi to visit Taiwan in August 2022.

Biden and Xi also agreed to cooperate to attack the origin of the opioid fentanylone of the leading causes of drug overdoses in the United States.

According to the agreement, China will crack down on chemical companies that make fentanyl precursorsa senior US official told reporters.

In exchange, the United States would lift sanctions on the Institute of Forensic Sciences of the Ministry of Public Security of China, which was sanctioned during the Donald Trump administration for abuses of Muslim minorities in the northwestern Chinese region of Xinjiangsomething that Beijing denies.

Xi tried to reassure Biden about Beijing’s intentions on Taiwanwhich China claims as its territory, saying it has no plans to take military action in the coming years.

However, did set out the conditions under which the use of force could be usedaccording to a US official.

He also warned that Sanctions and other measures taken by Washington against their firms harm “legitimate interests” of the Asian country, according to the official agency Xinhua.

Before the meeting, Representatives of the two countries announced the launch of a joint working group on climate change, “one of the greatest challenges of our time.”

On the eve of the meeting, Biden noted that China has “real problems”. “President Xi is another example of how the reestablishment of American leadership in the world is taking hold. They have real problems,” he said.

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From Moscowhe Kremlin He considered that this meeting between Xi and Biden was “important”. After the last meeting between the two, relations went through moments of tension, especially at the beginning of the year, when the US shot down an alleged spy balloon of Chinese origin.

But in recent months, Beijing and Washington have opted for high-level diplomacywhich led to the announcement, less than a week before the summit, of Xi’s visit.