Can Biden and Xi get the US-China relationship back on track?

Given the fact that ties have been slipping towards hostility in the last couple of years, refreshing lines of communication will be the main aim of talks in San Francisco, writes Chris Stevenson

Joe Biden with Xi Jinping before a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit last year in Bali (AP)

Joe Biden and Xi Jinping certainly have plenty to talk about – and in San Francisco they have at least a few hours to do so. The meeting between the two – during a summit of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum – is the first in a year, and Xi’s first trip to the US since former president Donald Trump said they spoke over the “most beautiful piece of chocolate cake that you’ve ever seen” at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in 2017.

Relations between the two superpowers have dropped since then, and Trump wasn’t exactly known for being quiet when it came to the issue of China, and so this discussion will be more about breathing life into lines of communication that have fallen fallow. Ties plunged to a new low last August, when Beijing cut off major communication channels with Washington in retaliation for a high-level US visit to Taiwan by then US House speaker Nancy Pelosi. That was exacerbated by a controversy in February over a suspected Chinese spy balloon that made its way across the continental US. And which Biden ordered to be shot down.

Restoring military communication will be a big Biden aim, to avoid the type of miscommunication or miscalculation US officials fear could lead to open conflict. Biden said ahead of his departure for California that he would define success for the sit-down as getting back on a “normal course”. He said that included “corresponding, being able to pick up the phone and talk to one another if there’s a crisis, being able to make sure that our militaries still have contact with one another”.