The President of the United States, Joe Biden, estimated this Sunday that the recent victory of the Democratic Party in the US Senate elections will strengthen his figure in view of the meeting he will hold on Monday with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, with whom he said he maintains a very cordial relationship, although it is necessary to delimit the «red lines» in bilateral negotiations.
«I know I come out reinforced but I don’t need it. I know Xi Jinping, I have spent more time with him than with any other world leader. I know him well and he knows me well, and we have very few misunderstandings,» the president explained during the final moments of the Association of Southeast Asian / East Asian Nations (ASEAN/EAS) summit in Cambodia.
Biden made these comments just hours after the confirmation that his Democratic Party will maintain control of the upper house of Congress in the November 8 congressional elections thanks to the victory of Catherine Cortez Masto in the state of Nevada.
«What we have to do is figure out where the ‘red lines’ are and what we’re going to do over the next two years,» President Biden added regarding the time he has left in the White House until the next election.
«I look forward to having a direct conversation with him, as I’ve always had. I don’t recall either of us making a miscalculation in interpreting our different positions, and that in a relationship I think is critically important,» he added.
As announced yesterday by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Biden will tell his Chinese counterpart at their G20 meeting in Bali (Indonesia) that the US military will expand its military presence in the Indo-Pacific region if Beijing does not help defuse tensions with North Korea.
Sullivan said that any new North Korean missile test would «simply lead to an increased US military and security presence in the region».
«It is therefore in China’s interest to play a constructive role in containing North Korea’s worst vices. Whether or not Beijing chooses to do so is up to them,» Sullivan explained before qualifying that Biden has no intention of imposing anything on the Chinese president, but «simply explaining his perspective on the issue.»
