Opinion: Three Ways a Biden White House Could Reset U.S.-China Relations

There can be no doubt that China-U.S. ties, the most consequential relationship of the century, have sunk to their lowest point.

Over the last four years, Beijing and Washington have clashed on almost all fronts, from trade to geopolitical flashpoints, from student visas to a tit-for-tat media war. There are concerns over what lies ahead for the two nuclear powers if the current trend continues to simmer.

If the 77-year-old Democratic challenger prevails on Nov. 3, a Biden White House could provide an opportunity for the U.S. and China to recalibrate their relations.

The former U.S. vice president has a real chance to win. As of Tuesday, according to the latest state polls collected by the Real Clear Politics website, Biden leads in 14 out of the total 17 battleground states, including Florida, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan — the four key states that defined Donald Trump’s win in 2016. That year Hillary Clinton lost to Trump in all of these swing states, which Barack Obama won in his reelection bid in 2012.

Biden also knows the Chinese leadership well. During his vice presidency, he visited China twice. In the second visit in Beijing in 2013, he met with President Xi Jinping for a straight five and half hours, including a two hour one-on-one meeting reportedly only accompanied by interpreters. He also dined at a traditional local fried liver restaurant (姚记炒肝) in Beijing in his 2011 visit, which created a social media storm in China.

However, circumstances have changed. Biden’s China policy would neither resemble the combativeness of Trump, nor the restrained nature of Obama’s approach — it would feature his own characteristics. His advisers have already signaled that Biden would assemble the most diverse cabinet in the U.S. history; even Republicans may have seats in Biden’s cabinet. This could spark a different set of China policies that fits the more progressive leaning environment of the current Democratic Party, and it is almost certain that it would create new problems for Beijing.

Although what has been done by the Trump administration to U.S.-China relations cannot simply be undone, Biden could reset the relationship with Beijing in three ways.

“Biden’s China policy would neither resemble the combativeness of Trump, nor like the restrained nature of Obama’s approach — it would feature his own characteristics.”

A Biden-Xi summit

Biden could propose a summit with Xi as an effort to get the bilateral relationship back on track. Beijing would also be looking to engage with a Biden White House and is comfortable with this kind of leadership diplomacy, which the Chinese side favors to settle issues.

The last time Trump and Xi met was during the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan in June last year. Before the signing of the phase-one trade deal in January this year, it was speculated that Xi and Trump could meet in a third country and sign an agreement to end the bitter trade war — but it did not happen. The two leaders haven’t met since, for more than a year.

Thus a Biden-Xi summit is urgently needed for both sides, particularly because tension between Beijing and Washington has been further…