US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping shook hands for the first time as leaders in their first face-to-face meeting since Biden took office nearly two years ago.
Meeting on the sidelines of the G20 leaders’ summit in Bali, Indonesia, the two leaders greeted each other with a firm, long handshake, both smiling, standing in front of a line of U.S. flags and China.
They smiled for the cameras and Xi – through a translator – appeared to say: “Good to see you.”
Afterwards, US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are seated at their desks, flanked by officials on either side.
Both Biden and Xi were not wearing masks, unlike other officials in the room.
“I am committed to keeping the lines of communication open between you and me personally, for our governments, because our two countries have so many things that we have the opportunity to deal with,” Biden said in his opening remarks.
While Chinese leader Xi Jinping said that the world is paying attention to the high-level meeting between him and American President Biden.
“As leaders of two major countries, we must set the right course for US relations with China. We must find the right direction for bilateral relations to move forward and elevate the relationship”, he said, among other things.