China’s Premier Urges Biden to See His Nation as an Opportunity

(Bloomberg) -- China said that Premier Li Qiang used a meeting with President Joe Biden at the recent Group of 20 summit to urge the US to see the possibilities that his nation’s advances offer.

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Li “stressed that China’s development is an opportunity for the US, not a challenge,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Monday at a regular press briefing in Beijing. He also told the US leader that “the two countries need to enhance communications,” Mao said.

See: India’s G-20 Win Shows US Learning How to Counter China Rise

Li became the first Chinese premier to attend a G-20 leaders’ summit after President Xi Jinping surprisingly skipped it. Biden had said he was “disappointed” to learn that Xi wouldn’t head to New Delhi. The leaders of the two nations embroiled in a range of disputes, including over semiconductors and Taiwan, haven’t spoken since a G-20 summit in Bali last year.

Li kept a fairly low profile at the gathering in India, holding just five bilateral meetings with leaders, including the one with Biden. In contrast, Xi met 11 heads of state at the G-20 summit in Bali last year. Chinese state media largely downplayed the event, instead focusing on Xi traveling to a province recently hit by flooding and his inspection of a military facility.

More: Chinese Premier Li G-20 Debut Eclipsed by Xi in State Media

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