Biden, Xi Jinping likely to meet at G20 Summit: A look at 10 nagging issues between US, China

New Delhi: US President Joe Biden is all set to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali. This would be their first encounter since they became presidents of the world’s two largest economies.

Biden and Xi have virtually spoken as presidents, but have not met in person, with the Chinese leader postponing international travel until recently due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Xi is flying to the Indonesian resort island after securing a historic third term, while Biden is flying out following a surprisingly strong showing for his Democrats in the midterm elections.

Let’s take a look at 10 nagging issues between the US and China:

Taiwan

Tensions between the United States and China have been high over Taiwan, particularly since the US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit earlier this year.

Biden has indicated on three occasions that he is willing to commit the US military to defend Taiwan. He had earlier insisted that the historic US stance of strategic ambiguity on whether Washington would use force in the event of a Chinese invasion had not changed. “The Taiwan doctrine has not changed at all since its beginning,” said Biden.

Xi’s government has criticised the Biden administration’s approach to Taiwan, which Beijing hopes to unite with the communist mainland in the future, as undermining China’s territorial integrity. The Chinese president has also suggested that Washington wishes to limit Beijing’s growing influence, as it seeks to overtake the United States as the world’s leading economy.

China’s growing presence in the South China Sea

China’s military bases in the South China Sea have sparked widespread concern since they first appeared nearly a decade ago.

Over the last 7-8 years, China has spent a lot of money and effort to build these obvious military bases. Xi Jinping had promised former US President Barak Obama in 2015 that China would not militarise these facilities, which now seems a blatant lie.

The Chinese militarization of the South China Sea is significant, giving the PLA significant advantages in all situations other than major conflict.

Climate Change

While US President Joe Biden is anticipated to attend the COP27 summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, his recently re-elected Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will be conspicuously absent.

In the nearly 30-year history of UN climate negotiations, cooperation between the two biggest economies and carbon polluters has been essential to rare successes, including the historic 2015 Paris Agreement.

China is under pressure to finalise plans to reduce methane emissions. Methane accounts for approximately 10% of total emissions in China, primarily from the mining, agriculture, and waste sectors.

Last year, Beijing and Washington announced a collaboration to reduce methane emissions.

However, while the United States has already announced plans to reduce emissions by 30% below 2020 levels by the end of the decade, China has yet to announce its own roadmap.

Beijing’s backdoor support to Russia in Ukraine war

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s expected absence from the summit may help to cool tensions between Washington and Beijing over the Ukraine conflict.

While Xi has refused to condemn Putin’s invasion, he has recently expressed concern about the conflict and reaffirmed his opposition to the use nuclear weapons.

Biden had earlier stated that China has hesitated at supporting Russia materially, despite President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Beijing to meet Xi before the invasion.

“I don’t think there’s a lot of respect that China has for Russia or for Putin,” Biden said.

Human Rights

US on several occasions has labeled China’s detention of a million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang a “genocide.”

While, Beijing has denied genocide allegations, calling them the “lie of the century” and arguing that its policies have countered extremism and improved livelihoods.

North Korea

Officials at the White House have expressed disappointment that Beijing has not used its influence to pressure North Korea to stop conducting provocative missile tests and to abandon its nuclear weapons programme.

The United States had earlier criticized China, as well as Russia at the UN Security Council for providing “blanket protection” to North Korea, after Pyongyang launched a series of missile tests.

North Korea, whose closest ally is China, has stated that its tests were in response to the largest-ever military drills between the US and South Korea, which concluded over the weekend.

Semiconductor chips

In October, the United States significantly increased restrictions on the export of advanced semiconductors and manufacturing equipment to China. It also increased restrictions on US personnel and firms that support Chinese chip manufacturing, while tightening export controls on Chinese entities involved in supercomputing.

The United States believes the move was necessary to limit China’s access to high-end chips used in supercomputing and artificial intelligence, which are crucial to modernising its military, weaponry, and surveillance networks, all of which are considered threats to US national security.

Restriction of China’s access to powerful chips, as well as its efforts to produce them, will have an impact on Chinese industries ranging from electronic vehicles and advanced robotics to aircraft and drones.

Trade War

The United States and China are competing for supremacy in both innovation and production capacity, as much of Beijing’s economic gain in advanced industries comes at the expense of Washington and vice versa. The trend is expected to continue.

Chinese President Xi Jinping had earlier stated that technological innovation has become the main battleground of the global playing field, and competition for tech dominance will grow unprecedentedly fierce.

Indo-Pacific and QUAD

The QUAD is a strategic dialogue between the US, Australia, Japan, and India aimed at promoting free trade and investment in the Indo-Pacific region.

China has always thought of QUAD as Asian version of NATO, but it’s members had always denied that and said that it at promoting free trade and investment in the Indo-Pacific region.

COVID-19 and the Wuhan Lab Theory

US has on several occasions claimed that Covid first appeared at a lab in the city of Wuhan. China has made it clear on multiple occasions that the lab-leak theory from Wuhan is nothing but a lie fabricated by anti-China forces for political purposes and it has nothing to do with science. The issue has been a matter great concern between the ties of both the superpowers.

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