The presidents of the United States, Joe Bidenand from China, Xi JinpingThey have shown certain approach in a meeting aimed at stabilizing the tumultuous bilateral relationship and in which have reached agreements to combat fentanyl trafficking and reopen military communication channels.

The face to face lasted more than four hours and began with the two leaders posing smiling in front of the television cameras while shaking hands and greeting the press.

Everything was calculated to the millimeter to stabilize the bilateral relationship and make an exhibition before the world of tune. But despite all the efforts to show rapprochement, the meeting has not ended so well.

As he left, Biden ended by telling reporters that still thinks Xi is a “dictator”“, an adjective that already alienated them the first time he used it in June of this year.

Reestablish communication between your military

One of the objectives of the meeting was to reestablish lines of communication so that an arbitrary incident does not lead to a crisis with unpredictable consequences.

“We have agreed that lines of communication will remain open, including between President Xi and me. We have both agreed that each of us will be able to pick up the phone, Call directly and you will be heard immediately“Biden detailed in a press conference after the meeting.

In this regard, one of the great achievements of the meeting has been the restoration of communications between the Armed Forces of the two countries, which broke up more than a year ago after the controversial visit in August 2022 to Taiwan of the then president of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi.

Specifically, the two countries agreed that there will be meetings between their defense ministers, exchanges of information between military leaders of the different branches of the Armed Forces and, finally, communication between their navies, the two parties detailed in their statements after the meeting. .

Collaboration against fentanyl

Another of the achievements of the meeting has been an agreement for China control the exit from your territory of chemicals that Mexican drug cartels use to manufacture fentanyl and sell it illegally in the United States.

The Chinese government did not specifically say that an agreement on fentanyl had been reached in its official statement, but it did indicate that an agreement had been reached to create a “working group” on narcotics.

The two leaders have also committed to increase commercial flights direct between the two nations and collaborate on artificial intelligence.

No agreement on Taiwan

However, during the meeting the tension between the two powers over Taiwanthe self-governed island with a democratic system that China claims as part of its territory and to which Washington sends a large amount of weapons.

Specifically, Xi has taken the opportunity to highlight that Taiwan continues to be the “most important and sensitive” issue in bilateral relations and has directly urged Biden to take “real actions” to honor his commitment to not support Taiwan independence.

In addition, he has asked him to stop sending weapons to the island and support the “peaceful reunification” of China. “China will achieve reunification and this is inevitable,” Xi stressed during the meeting, according to the official Chinese statement.

For his part, Biden has asked Xi to respect the independence of Taiwan’s January presidential elections.