“The tone has to be set right at the top”,said Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
“And that means that the presidents of the two countries have to speak,be frank and lay out their cards. I think they understand what the stakes are,but to take it forward,that takes political will and wisdom on both sides.”
This was a chance for a reset. But beyond the rosy rhetoric,Tuesday’s hours-long meetingentrenched differences between the two superpowers.
Neither side came into the G20 believing that they could resolve the myriad difficulties in the relationship. What they did achieve,were “guardrails” — a diplomatic euphemism for mechanisms to put it back on course should it go too close to the edge.
Just before 10pm Bali time,China’s government-controlled media service Xinhua released its first summary of the meeting. Tellingly,it was not about both leaders needing to come together out of “a sense of responsibility for history”.
Rather,Xi told Biden:“The Taiwan question is at the very core of China’s core interests,the bedrock of the political foundation of China-US relations,and the first red line that must not be crossed in China-US relations”.