In conversations with Biden, Xi tries to reassure and assert at the same time

Meeting with President Biden for the first time in a year, Chinese leader Xi Jinping reiterated his determination to unite with Taiwan but made no mention of the possible use of force. He denounced what he called futile U.S. efforts to contain China, but also acknowledged that U.S. technology restrictions had taken their toll.

And he signaled that China had global ambitions for its influence – while also trying to reassure the world that those ambitions did not have to lead to conflict with the United States.

Mr Xi’s message at the leaders’ summit in San Francisco, as reflected in official Chinese summaries, reflected his dual, sometimes conflicting priorities on his trip to the United States, which many had hoped would help bring stability to the volatile bilateral relation. .

Mr. Xi wants to convince Washington, and the world, that he is willing to engage with the United States, in part to lure back foreign investment to shore up China’s ailing economy. But he also wants to show the Chinese people that he has vigorously defended Beijing’s interests and burnished his image as a global power on par with the United States, and not as a secondary power that makes concessions.

To achieve that balance, Xi tried to cast himself as one of the two men who would determine whether the United States and China would choose cooperation or conflict, a choice that would “decide the future of humanity.”

That framework was in line with Xi’s assertive vision of how the United States should accept China as an equal, said Fei-Ling Wang, a professor of international affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

“You are with us, listen to me and work your way, otherwise it will be a disaster,” said Professor Wang, describing Mr Xi’s message. “We can divide the earth, so to speak.”

Perhaps the most striking signal of how Mr. Xi sought to project his growing ambitions for China without directly upsetting the United States came in his statement that “the Earth is big enough to accommodate both countries. ” During previous meetings with former Presidents Barack Obama and Donald J. Trump, Mr. Xi had told them that the Pacific Ocean was large enough to accommodate both countries.

“It is an indication that Xi now sees China as a global, rather than a regional, power,” said Cheng Chen, a professor of political science at the University at Albany in New York. “This is in line with Xi’s sharp foreign policy in recent years.”

By framing the relationship in such terms, Mr. Xi also portrays himself as a responsible global leader who stands up for the interests of all nations.

That reflects China’s attempt to appeal to developing countries as a means to push back US dominance and reform the world order to better suit Chinese interests. Beijing has taken a more active role in the Middle East, strengthening ties with Arab states by showing support for the Palestinians in Israel’s war with Hamas. But at the same time, China is accused of bullying by its neighbors. Chinese soldiers have clashed with Indian troops over a border dispute. Chinese ships have fired water cannons and harassed Philippine boats around the South China Sea.

“Xi animated US-China relations beyond the two countries, giving it a global perspective,” said Yun Sun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center in Washington. “He’s big and trying to take a higher approach by saying, ‘It’s not just about you and me, it’s about the whole world, so why can’t you get out of your short-sighted, competitive frame of this?'”

Chinese state media backed the portrayal of Mr Xi as a colleague of Mr Biden, showing images of the two smiling and walking shoulder to shoulder on the grounds of the estate near San Francisco where they met. It highlighted how Mr Biden appeared impressed after inspecting Mr Xi’s Chinese-made luxury Hongqi car and then waiting patiently in the driveway as the Chinese leader was driven away. (CCTV, the state broadcaster, started a hashtag on the social media platform Weibo: “Biden points to the Hongqi car and says ‘Beautiful’.”)

Other images showed a dinner for business executives in honor of Mr Xi, with celebrities including Tim Cook and Elon Musk among the crowds of guests who arrived to hear the Chinese leader deliver a speech.

Anything that could cast doubt on the narrative of a warm welcome for Mr Xi was left out. State media highlighted the crowds of supporters who gathered to wave Chinese flags, while unsurprisingly making no mention of protests by groups representing Tibet, Hong Kong and China’s northwestern Xinjiang region. Mr. Biden’s off-the-cuff comment, in a response to a reporter’s question later, that he still considered Mr. Xi a dictator was also omitted. (Although, when asked by a reporter, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman called Mr. Biden’s comment “extremely wrong.”)

The summit caps a tumultuous year in US-China relations, which reached a low point in February after an errant Chinese surveillance balloon was discovered hovering over the United States. American companies have become increasingly wary of investing in China following a series of raids and new restrictions on foreign companies in the name of national security. Ties have also deepened over China’s tacit support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, increased Chinese military activity around Taiwan, and interceptions of dangerous Chinese fighter jets over the western Pacific, to name a few.

The two sides have sent more senior officials to each other’s countries for talks in recent months in the hope of breaking the downward spiral. Although the summit resulted in agreements to curb fentanyl production and restart military-to-military communications, significant disagreements remained between the two sides on issues as fundamental as how their relationship should be defined.

Washington sees ties with Beijing as a form of “managed competition” that allows the two countries to challenge each other on issues such as technology, but also work together on shared interests such as climate change. China has rejected this framing, indicating that competition only sows distrust. The country has been deeply frustrated by U.S. efforts to unite allies and other countries in Asia to counter China’s influence.

“The most important question for us is: are we adversaries or partners?” Mr Xi said this in the evening at a banquet with business leaders. He added: “Viewing the other side as a primary competitor, the most consequential geopolitical challenge and an increasing threat will only lead to ill-informed policymaking, misguided actions and undesirable outcomes.”

No issue threatens the relationship more than the future of Taiwan, the democratic island that China claims as its territory. Mr Xi urged Mr Biden to take “concrete actions” to reassure China that it still stands by its stated policy of not supporting Taiwanese independence, including by halting arms sales to Taiwan fuses.

Mr. Xi’s language was less belligerent than China’s usual statements on Taiwan, said Amanda Hsiao, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group. “The language sounds more businesslike,” she said.

Mr. Xi also struck a softer tone than usual at the banquet dinner with American business leaders, highlighting ways in which China and the United States could overcome their differences. Mr Xi spoke about the American pilots known as the Flying Tigers who helped China against Japan during World War II. He alluded to the prospect of China sending new pandas to the United States. And he reminisced about the time he lived with an American family in Iowa in 1985 as part of an agricultural fair.

“No matter how assertive a great leader he is,” Professor Wang said of Mr. Xi’s image, “he has to worry about where his money will come from.”

Olivia Wang And Joy Dong reporting contributed.