: ‘We’re Not Looking for a New Cold War’: Biden to Speak With Xi to Deflate Ballooning Tensions #WorldNEWS President Joe Biden expects to soon speak with Xi Jinping about the Chinese balloon shot

‘We’re Not Looking for a New Cold War’: Biden to Speak With Xi to Deflate Ballooning Tensions #WorldNEWS
President Joe Biden expects to soon speak with Xi Jinping about the Chinese balloon shot down by the U. S. earlier this month, signaling a desire to end a dispute that has highlighted the fragility of relations between the world’s biggest economies.
Biden disclosed plans for the call as part of his most extensive remarks yet about the balloon saga, which led the U. S. to destroy three other still-unidentified objects. He pledged to “responsibly manage” competition with China “so that it doesn’t veer into conflict” — echoing a sentiment expressed when both leaders pledged to improve ties during a November meeting.

“I expect to be speaking with President Xi, and I hope we have a — we are going to get to the bottom of this,” Biden said in remarks at the White House. “We’re not looking for a new Cold War, but I make no apologies, and we will compete. ”
Biden, who plans to visit Europe ahead of the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion, didn’t specify when he intended to speak with Xi. Since taking office two years ago, Biden has repeatedly leveraged his personal relationship with Xi — forged when both leaders served as vice president — to keep disputes from escalating.
Read More: China and the U. S. Are at Odds Over a Balloon. Why Much of Asia Isn’t Blowing Up About It
Biden and Xi also spoke after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and days before then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August. Their first face-to-face meeting in November on the Indonesian resort island of Bali appeared to represent a breakthrough, coming as part of a wider push by Xi to ease diplomatic disputes and focus on rebuilding his Covid-battered economy.
“Without clear directions from the top, it is difficult for the lower levels to properly manage the incident,” said Vivian Zhan, an associate professor of Chinese politics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. “Biden’s gesture suggests that the tension has escalated to the degree that it hurts the US interest as much as it does China, and needs to be contained. ”
In another sign that both sides are eager to turn the page, U. S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is said to be weighing a meeting with China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference beginning Friday. The balloon’s transit over the U. S. and Canada prompted Blinken to cancel a trip to Beijing that had been planned in the wake of the earlier Biden-Xi meeting.
While China initially expressed regret over what it said was the balloon’s accidental passage over U.