In their final meeting, China’s leader Xi Jinping told US President Joe Biden that “China is ready to work with a new administration,” as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take over.
The two leaders met on Saturday on the sidelines of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit.
Mr Biden was expected to urge Mr Xi to dissuade North Korea from further deepening its support for Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Mr Biden said he was proud of the work the nations had achieved since their last meeting, which was last year on the sidelines of the conference held in San Francisco.
“Over the past four years, China-US relations have experienced ups and downs, but with the two of us at the helm, we have also engaged in fruitful dialogues and co-operation, and generally achieved stability,” Mr Biden said.
It is the last time they will meet officially; Mr Biden is leaving office and making way for Mr Trump. There is much uncertainty about what lies ahead in the US-China relationship under Mr Trump, who campaigned promising to levy 60% tariffs on Chinese imports.
Saturday’s talks in Peru come just over two months before Mr Biden leaves office and makes way for Republican President-elect Mr Trump.
Mr Biden on Friday, along with South Korean President Yoon Seok Yul and Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, condemned North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s decision to send thousands of troops to help Moscow repel Ukrainian forces who have seized territory in Russia’s Kursk border region.
Mr Biden called it “dangerous and destabilising co-operation.”
