While U.S. President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping reached modest agreements during their Nov. 15 meeting, conflicting strategic visions will impede not only the implementation of these agreements but also long-term efforts to ease U.S.-China competition, perpetuating risks of additional trade restrictions and growing military tensions in Asia's maritime space. During their four-hour meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, Biden and Xi agreed to resume military-to-military dialogues, as well as direct communication lines between the two presidents. The two leaders also pledged to keep communication lines open on all manner of economic and security issues in the future, including limiting the security threats posed by using artificial intelligence in military applications, especially for nuclear weapons. Additionally, they secured cooperation on fentanyl trafficking interdiction, with Xi pledging to crack down on supplies of drug precursors and pill presses coming out of China. Lastly,...
