Biden calls Chinese President Xi Jinping about U.S.-China relationship

In their first conversation in seven months, President Biden spoke by phone with Chinese President Xi Jinping late Thursday night from the Treaty Room inside the White House residence. The roughly 90-minute call was initiated by Mr. Biden and motivated by what is essentially his exasperation that lower-level Chinese officials have been unwilling to hold substantive conversations during meetings with members of his administration. 

A senior administration official told reporters that one of the challenges in U.S.-China interactions to date is that the sense that "they were playing for the press" and using the interactions with Biden administration officials as attempts to push propaganda rather than substance. The tone of Thursday night's call was described as "respectful" while also frank and familiar. The president reiterated that he wants to keep the channels of communication open so the two countries do not unintentionally "veer into conflict." The intent of the call was to have a strategic conversation about how to manage competition between the two world powers. The official also said phone call was a test — to see if conversations at the very highest level would be more effective, given Xi's consolidation of power.