Global Express | The Biden -Xi meet: China trap? Or lukewarm re-engagement?

Whichever way you look at it, the San Francisco talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden were decidedly underwhelming. Military re-engagement only ended one point of concern. The real issues that cast the two as the new protagonists in Cold War 2.0 remain. The US Unchanged- arming Taiwan, continued encirclement and containment of China while pursuing de-risking by decoupling. Curbing China while mouthing platitudes. Only, Biden let it slip ‘xi is a dictator’! Xi’s playbook? wooing US tech and industry magnates-he wants them back but without assurances, they will not be raided or jailed! The big question - Can Xi be trusted? Is he still in control of the CCP? Can he overcome criticism of the economic slowdown being laid at his door? As for Biden? Plummeting Popularity driving him to project himself as the world’s leader? Or is he skilfully moving to contain Xi’s China which is stretching the US over Taiwan in the South China Sea and Ukraine and now in Israel with the war on Hamas. In this video, in a discussion with senior journalist Neena Gopal, China experts deconstruct the ‘Frisco Friction’ beneath the double charm offensive, Amit Kumar of the Takshasila Institution and Prof Hemanth Adlakha, JNU, a fellow at the Institute of Chinese Studies.