The four-hour-long meeting that took place on November 15th 2023 between Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping was depicted in China as “the most important diplomatic event of the year”.

Despite several general statements related to more or less concrete joint efforts to encourage international stability in a situation currently characterized by a high degree of instability and attempting to normalize the diplomatic relationship between the two countries, the major questions have not yet been resolved. The most important of all concerns the future of Taiwan, for Beijing the “One-China Principle”.

Contrary to the ostensible normalization that the Xi-Biden Summit tried to display the reality is definitely different and the Sino-American relationships remain critical.

Suffice it to mention the ever-growing suspicion felt by the Chinese towards the Americans and the great difficulty met by many Chinese students when applying for a student visa to enter the USA. Besides, the most direct confrontation between the two superpowers is taking place in Africa where the USA is trying to maintain the relationships with its historic business partners, while China, in the context of the development and expansion of the Belt and Road Initiative, proposes projects of investment and infrastructure to the governments of key African countries in exchange for advantageous agreements and favorable treatments for the licenses to exploit the mines of raw materials and rare earth essential for its high-tech industry.

During the meeting, the issues related to the confrontation on the African continent were not addressed, and this silence says a lot about the criticality of the topic.

It is also interesting to emphasize that, during his trip to the USA, Xi not only attended the 30th APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting, but took part in the official dinner with the American business Gotha. Thus, it seems that, rather than to talk with Biden, Xi came to San Francisco to talk to the major American businessmen and reassure them on the development opportunities for their corporations and companies in the large Chinese market.

Xi’s direct knowledge of the USA is better than some may think because he spent quite a long time studying there in his youth. He also regret the death of Henry Kissinger because he really knew how to deal with the Chinese.