China's Xi calls Biden 'old friend' at virtual summit, pitches for cooperation

US President Joe Biden opened his virtual meeting with Chinese premier XI Jinping on Monday by saying their goal is to ensure competition “does not veer into conflict.”

The two leaders met by video amid mounting tensions in the US-China relationship. Biden has criticized Beijing over human rights abuses against Uyghurs in northwest China, squelching democratic protests in Hong Kong, military aggression against the self-ruled island of Taiwan, and more.

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Biden would have preferred to meet Xi in person, but the Chinese leader has not left his country since before the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

The White House floated the idea of a virtual meeting as the next best thing to allow for the two leaders to have a candid conversation about a wide range of strains in the relationship.

Xi, who called Biden his “old friend”, said the two sides need to improve communication. The two leaders travelled together when both were vice presidents and know each other well.

Relations between the superpowers plummeted during the presidency of Donald Trump, who launched a trade war with China while assailing Beijing's response to an international probe into the origins of the Covid pandemic in the Chinese city of Wuhan.