A different mood as Xi breaks the ice with Biden in San Francisco, 6 years after Mar-a-Lago and Trump
- Business-like tone replaces warm family moments of 2017 visit as Xi Jinping and Joe Biden hold first in-person talks in a year
- Chinese state media frames summit as rapport-building exercise, but Biden’s repeat of ‘dictator’ comment strikes false note
Xi’s host for that visit in April 2017 was Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump, who welcomed the Chinese leader to his Mar-a-Lago private club in Florida less than three months after taking office.
This time, the venue was another picturesque location, the Filoli estate in Woodside, California, where the hit 1980s American TV series Dynasty was filmed.
But the mood was more businesslike and intense, as Xi and Biden covered a wide range of difficult issues – from the nature of the bilateral relationship to Taiwan and the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
This was not a private residence of the US president, there were few personal anecdotes and no first ladies accompanying the leaders.
There was a working lunch, however, and a stroll in the estate grounds.
