In a recent telephone conversation, US President Joe Biden offered Chinese President Xi Jinping a summit, but the Chinese leader rejected the offer, offering Washington to soften its rhetoric towards Beijing, the Financial Times reported.
The publication refers to sources familiar with the details of the conversation between the two leaders. According to them, during the 90-minute conversation, Biden offered a summit with Xi Jinping, but failed to reach an agreement.
This is said to have “led a number of US officials to conclude that Beijing continues to play hard with Washington.”
“The US president offered his Chinese counterpart a summit to break the deadlock in US-China relations … but the Chinese leader did not accept his offer and instead urged Washington to choose a less strict tone towards Beijing. “, writes” Financial Times “.
According to sources, the Biden administration saw the recent telephone conversation between the two leaders as “an opportunity to test whether Xi Jinping is ready for a serious commitment after a series of diplomatic contacts between US and Chinese officials failed.”
“Although Xi Jinping used less harsh language than senior Chinese diplomats this year, his overall message to Biden was that the United States should soften its rhetoric,” the paper quoted informed sources as saying.
The White House has not yet commented on the publication.
Translation and editing: BLITZ
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