President Joe Biden spoke with China's President Xi Jinping on Thursday evening as relations between the two countries have remained tense in recent months, particularly in cyberspace, with the US having accused China of widespread malfeasance, including a massive hack of Microsoft's email system and other ransomware attacks, Report informs, citing Xinhua.
"The two leaders had a broad, strategic discussion in which they discussed areas where our interests converge, and areas where our interests, values, and perspectives diverge," said a readout of the call, provided by the White House. "They agreed to engage on both sets of issues openly and straightforwardly. This discussion, as President Biden made clear, was part of the United States' ongoing effort to responsibly manage the competition between the United States and the PRC."
Biden addressed cyber issues during the roughly 90-minute conversation and generally sought to have a "broad and strategic discussion" about managing the competitive US-China relationship to avoid veering into conflict, according to a senior administration official who spoke with reporters before and after the call. The official described the tone of the call, which Biden took from the Treaty Room of the White House residence, as "respectful" and "familiar and candid."
The Biden administration has signaled that it plans to continue taking a tough approach to China -- similar to former President Donald Trump -- but that it will do so in coordination with allies, and hopes to set parameters that allow the countries to voice concern and areas of disagreement but also work with each other when it is in both countries' interest.
According to Chinese state media Xinhua news, Xi told Biden that America's policy towards China has caused "serious difficulties" for the countries' relations.
"If China and the US work together, both countries and the world will benefit; If China and the US confront each other, both countries and the world will suffer. China-US relation is not a choice question that whether it needs to be done well, but a required question that how to do it well," Xi said, according to the Xinhua report.