The US-China meeting was a sizeable diplomatic step forward in the relationship between the two countries – but will this new good will last and what will happen to New Zealand if it doesn’t, US Correspondent Logan Church asks.
Well, that didn’t last long.
The meeting between Presidents Biden and Xi yesterday might mark the start of a new relationship, but comments by Biden, calling his Chinese counterpart a ‘dictator’ have since ruffled the Chinese delegation's feathers.
“Well, look, he’s a dictator in the sense that he is a guy who runs a country that is a communist country that’s based on a form of government totally different than ours,” Biden told reporters.
“Anyway, we made progress.”
That progress included a stern rebuke from China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, who called Biden's words "extremely erroneous” and an “irresponsible political maneuver, which China firmly oppose”.
It’s not the first time Biden has said this, but it shows just how much of a tightrope both countries must walk to build some semblance of a working relationship.
The history between China and the US, the two most powerful countries on the planet, is complicated.
The US objects to growing Chinese military influence in the Pacific. Both countries accuse each other of spying. The US shot down a ‘Chinese spy balloon’ not long ago.
The presidents of the US and China agreed to co-operate on a number of issues when they met at the APEC summit in San Francisco. (Source: 1News)
Both have widely differing views on the independence of Taiwan, the US has publicly rebuked China for flying fighter jets too close to the American military, and recently the two have been at loggerheads over powerful US computing chips – China wants them, the US has put strict controls on exports.
And that puts New Zealand in a diplomatically delicate position, according to international relations experts.
“We don't have a choice but to be friends with both,” said Alexander Gillespie of the University of Waikato.
“Economically we critically need China,” he told 1News.
“It’s not just the economic importance of them, but also the social and culture interactions we can build - but on a purely self-interested basis we need them for trade.
“But with America, we need them for support. Our own alliances are somewhat complicated with regards to Australia, Britain and America. But we are moving much closer to America than we have in over a few decades."
He said the meeting between the two leaders was a good step though, and comparatively small wins like an agreement to jointly tackle the fentanyl epidemic and to get the US and Chinese militaries talking again could lead to increased co-operation in the future.
“We have to find more ways for co-operational and peaceful coexistence, and this is a step towards it,” said Gillespie.
The big win for most Americans though will be Xi’s comments that China might keep sending its pandas to American zoos.
The panda-monium here was unbelievable when the US recently had to send some back.
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