AP Photo / Alex Brandon
Note: this is a machine translation from the original Russian text
An analysis of official reports on the meeting between the US President and the Chinese president shows that the differences between the two sides are intractable.
"Today I met with President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping," the US president tweeted after meeting with his Chinese counterpart in Bali on November 14. "We discussed our responsibility to prevent competition between our countries from turning into conflict and to find ways to work together on common problems that affect the international community."
Xi Jinping did not write anything on Twitter, which now belongs to Elon Musk and is going through difficult times of renovation. He doesn't write there at all. For that matter, China is full of its own social networks and messengers, where the Chinese leader could outline his vision of the negotiations at the highest level. Hundreds of millions would come there to read. But Chinese Internet services are so different from American ones that, for example, Americans have been at war with Chinese TikTok for years.
So it is here. Despite the fact that the Americans are trying to demonstrate mutual understanding, when you read the reports on the negotiations of the two sides, you catch yourself thinking that these were two different meetings. No, they crossed paths somewhere, but in general, each side talked about its own, painful.
Take Taiwan, for example. Here, in general, the conversation was in the style of "elder in the garden, and in Kiev (sorry) uncle. "As for Taiwan, he (Biden – approx. The author) stated in detail that our policy towards one China has not changed, the United States opposes any unilateral changes to the status quo on both sides, and the world is interested in maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. He expressed U.S. objections to China's coercive and increasingly aggressive actions against Taiwan, which undermine peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the wider region and threaten global prosperity." So it is written in a document entitled "Transcript of the meeting between President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping," posted on the website of the American White House. By the way, this document is one and a half pages long, although, according to world media, including Chinese, the meeting lasted a lot – 3 hours 12 minutes. We are clearly not being told a lot of what was discussed.
But back to Taiwan. Xi Jinping, as has happened more than once at such talks, ignored the words of his colleague "about the aggressive actions of the PRC against Taiwan, which undermine peace in the Taiwan Strait." The message of the Chinese leader was as follows: this is our internal business and a red line for the United States, beyond which it is forbidden to enter. "The Taiwan issue is the core of China's fundamental interests, the basis of the political foundation of Sino–American relations, the first red line that cannot be crossed," Xi Jinping said. That is, if the Americans don't understand and accept it in the end, there will be no relationship at all. According to Xi, those who want to separate this territory from China are going against its national interests, and the so-called independence of Taipei is incompatible with peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
And again, the Chinese president repeated what he had repeatedly told Biden, pointing out the hypocrisy of US policy, its duplicity: "Mr. President has said many times that he does not support the "independence of Taiwan", and also that he does not intend to turn Taiwan into a tool to gain a competitive advantage and deter China. We hope that the American side will keep the promise of Mr. President." Xi Jinping once again expressed hope that the statements of the US representatives will not diverge from their actions, and Washington will adhere to the principle of "one China" and three joint communiques.
That is, in American terms, Taiwan is, on the one hand, it seems to be China, but not quite. And not even China at all when it comes to Beijing's jurisdiction over its province. The contradiction is downright insoluble.
Further – more. As follows from the official message of the White House, Biden said that the United States will continue to actively compete with China, "invest in centers of power on its territory" and coordinate all this with its allies. At the same time, the United States hopes that their policy will not lead to an open conflict, and it would be nice to develop "special principles" for this. In other words, the United States will pile on China with the whole world, will "restrain" it, and at the same time China must follow the principles. The story is well known to us.
Xi Jinping, on the other hand, does not accept American policy, which is the root of all problems, and directly stated this: "Unleashing trade and technological wars, creating obstacles and barriers, forcibly disconnecting and severing supply chains completely violate the principles of a market economy and undermine the rules of international trade." "This can only harm others and not benefit yourself." According to Xi, instead of benefiting from the joint development of closely intertwined economies, the United States provokes conflicts.
By denying China the right to exercise its jurisdiction over Taiwan, which was illegally taken away from it by force, declaring an era of collective "containment" of China, Biden at the same time hopes for cooperation to solve transnational problems such as climate change, global macroeconomic stability, including debt relief, health security and global food security.". "Because this is what the international community expects." What is this but a continuation of the American policy of hegemony in its veiled form towards China? We are well aware of the history of using Russia where it is useful and ignoring its fundamental interests.
But from the field of interference in internal affairs, but no longer in Taiwan, but a rehash of an old song about the main thing: "President Biden expressed concern about the practice of the PRC in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong, as well as human rights in a broader sense." Xi Jinping, of course, is concerned about this topic only in the sense that the United States is meddling with its own affairs. But in the polite manner peculiar to the Chinese, he ignored these words and did not talk about the unenviable fate of American Indians and modern outcasts of American society who dare not recognize same-sex marriages. Instead, the Chinese leader informed Biden that there is an American-style democracy in the United States, and there is a Chinese-style democracy in China, which correspond to their national conditions. The two countries are going their separate ways: The United States practices capitalism and China practices socialism, Xi said, noting that there is nothing new in such differences and they will continue to exist. A fundamental contradiction, by the way.
The same was Xi's reaction to Biden's concern "about the provocative behavior of the DPRK." The US President "noted that all (!) members of the international community are interested in encouraging the DPRK to take responsible actions, and stressed the iron commitment of the United States to protect our Indo-Pacific allies." The President of the People's Republic of China, of course, did not answer anything, since China "does not belong to our Pacific allies." But Beijing did not turn away from the DPRK under any US presidents. So, apparently, it will continue.
Biden, of course, also touched on the issue of "Russia's brutal war against Ukraine and Russia's irresponsible threats to use nuclear weapons."
But the two leaders only agreed that they "confirmed their agreement that a nuclear war should never be waged and can never be won, and stressed their opposition to the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine." Who would argue? Russia would have joined in this, as its official representatives say daily, warning of possible nuclear terrorism of the Ukrainian regime and the danger of direct conflict with NATO. The problem is who is encouraging this terrorism. Isn't it the USA?
By American standards, Xi expressed absolute sedition in this regard, once again showing his solidarity with Russia and understanding of its concerns: "We support and hope for the resumption of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, and at the same time we hope that the United States, NATO and the European Union will conduct a comprehensive dialogue with Russia."
It can be summed up with a phrase from the very transcript from the White House website: "Both leaders frankly spoke about their respective priorities and intentions on a number of issues." And nothing more. And this is not surprising. The differences are too big and too difficult to resolve. But compared to the negotiations in the online format on March 19 this year, there is still progress. The United States is no longer trying to "drag" China "to the right side of history", to force pressure on Russia and prohibit trade with it. Probably, Washington realized that it was useless. Well, or we don't know about it.
Both sides talk about a good atmosphere and constructive conversation, but they do not specifically report what is constructive.
What exactly was agreed on in Bali from what we are informed about is the visit of Secretary Blinken to Beijing and the establishment of communication channels in order to avoid confrontation and continue negotiations.
"Where to move is a matter of concern not only for us, but for all countries of the world," Xi Jinping told his counterpart. "The international community expects China and the United States to properly regulate bilateral relations. Our meeting today has attracted the attention of the whole world. China and the United States should work with all countries to bring hope for world peace and confidence in global stability, to give impetus to joint development." Will these words of the Chinese leader be taken seriously in the United States? The question is rather rhetorical.