With Tensions Mounting, Biden and Xi Try a Warmer Tone

Both came to Bali for a meeting of the Group of 20 leaders after a moment of political success: Mr. Biden with better-than-expected results for Democrats in the midterm elections; Mr. Xi after securing a groundbreaking third term as Communist Party leader. But instead of swaggering into their meeting ready to contend over what Mr. Biden has called a struggle between democracy and autocracy, each appeared to agree that his national interests had been made vulnerable by the pandemic, climate change, a war in Europe and economic crisis.

“I absolutely believe there need not be a new Cold War,” Mr. Biden said.

Both men appeared eager to downplay the idea that Washington and Beijing were careening toward confrontation, particularly over Taiwan, a self-ruled island claimed by China. Taiwan is the focus of a military and diplomatic pressure campaign by Beijing that has raised fears of a potential invasion. But Mr. Biden told reporters that he did not believe a Chinese invasion of Taiwan was “imminent.”

And though both sides came and left without finding common ground on their most contentious disagreements — “I’m not suggesting this is Kumbaya,” Mr. Biden said — they found some accord. That included agreeing to reopen climate negotiations that had been frozen in recent months, a potential step forward in the effort to avert catastrophic global warming.

“Because of their solid personal relationship, there is reassurance in hearing directly from the other leader,” said Daniel R. Russel, a former assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs who accompanied Mr. Biden on his meetings with Mr. Xi when Mr. Biden was vice president. Still, he said, “there is no reason to think either leader will ease up on their respective priorities or begin to show new deference to the other’s so-called core interests.”

During their talks, Mr. Xi seemed to appeal to Mr. Biden to use his authority to rein in the distrust of China that pervades Washington these days.

“China has never sought to alter the current international order, does not meddle in American domestic politics and has no intention of challenging and replacing the United States,” Mr. Xi said in their talks.

As recently as last month, Mr. Biden’s National Security Strategy cast China as a strategic rival with “the intent to reshape the international order,” while Mr. Xi warned of an increasingly perilous world in which unnamed foes — implicitly, the United States and its allies — aim to “exert maximum pressure on China.”

The two leaders’ comments on Taiwan revealed that it remained their most dangerous point of potential collision.

Chinese Communist Party leaders and many Chinese people adamantly believe that Taiwan is Chinese territory. Most people on Taiwan see themselves as a distinctive and proudly democratic society that could never survive under Chinese sovereignty.

Tensions have worsened in recent years under Mr. Xi’s rule, as China’s military strength has grown closer to the point where it could try to seize control of Taiwan by force, risking a confrontation with the United States.

During their meeting on Monday, Mr. Biden said that he stood by the “one China” policy, but also warned Mr. Xi that China’s aggressive stance toward the island threatened stability in the area and could, ultimately, jeopardize the global economy.

Mr. Xi did not mince words, either, according to China’s summary of the talks. Taiwan is “the core of China’s core interests, the foundation of political foundations in the China-U.S. relationship and a red line that cannot be crossed in the China-U.S. relationship,” Mr. Xi said.

While Mr. Xi’s public comments on Taiwan were viscerally blunt, his responses to Mr. Biden’s entreaties about the Russian invasion of Ukraine were more murky. Unlike the Biden administration’s account of the talks, the summary from the Chinese delegation did not mention the leaders’ agreeing on opposing threats by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine. Instead, according to the Chinese account, Mr. Xi said that “a complicated issue does not have a simple solution,” and that “confrontation between major powers must be avoided.”

When asked by a reporter about tensions over North Korea’s nuclear program, Mr. Biden said he was not certain that China could contain that threat and that he had told Mr. Xi he must try to persuade the North Koreans not to engage in long-range nuclear tests.

“I’m confident China is not looking for North Korea to engage in further escalatory means,” Mr. Biden said.

Both sides needled the other over economic issues. Mr. Biden told Mr. Xi that the United States and China had to work together on debt relief, a reference to a push that administration officials have been making ahead of the G20 summit in hopes of avoiding a cascading global financial crisis. Several economic factors, including rising global interest rates, have left several countries unable to pay their debts. In many cases, China is the biggest creditor and has resisted any write-downs.

The Chinese description of the meeting suggested that those policies and others meant to redirect American supply chains away from China “completely violate the principles of market economy and undermine the rules of international trade.”