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US-China relations
OpinionComment
Mark J. Valencia
Mark J. Valencia

Opinion | The US, China and Asean: there has been more talk than progress

  • Washington and Beijing didn’t agree on anything substantive when Biden met Xi in Bali, except to continue to talk
  • Meanwhile, there has been little progress on a South China Sea code of conduct – one of the loose ends that must be tied up for the sake of stability

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Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden shake hands before their meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit on November 14 in Bali, Indonesia. Photo: AP
Mark J. Valencia
Actions speak louder than words. That is the conclusion Beijing is likely to draw from US Vice-President Kamala Harris’ visit to the Philippines to reinforce the alliance against China. Beijing and Washington are questioning each other’s intent and are thus scrutinising the other side’s actions.
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Harris’ trip comes on the heels of the in-person summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden, who tried to reassure each other of their benign intentions when they met before the G20 in Bali. It did not go well, on the evidence of official readouts of the meeting.

It appears Biden got an earful from Xi, especially on the question of Taiwan. According to China’s foreign ministry, Xi “stressed that the Taiwan question is at the very core of China’s core interests, the bedrock of the political foundation of China-US relations, and the first red line that must not be crossed in China-US relations”.

Xi also declared that China seeks neither to change the existing international order nor to interfere in the US’ internal affairs – a thinly veiled reference to US criticism of China’s domestic policies, including the treatment of Muslim minorities.

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According to the Chinese readout, Xi said he took Biden’s “five noes” statement seriously. This apparently refers to commitments not to seek a new cold war; not to try to change China’s system; not to step up revitalisation of its alliances against China; not to support Taiwan independence; and not to provoke conflict with China.

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