Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping ended a landmark summit in Bali, Indonesia on Monday after three hours of talks aimed at avoiding conflict between the rival superpowers.
Xi and Biden shook hands in front of the US and Chinese flags before starting the long-awaited meeting on the resort island ahead of a Group of 20 summit, following months of tension over Taiwan and other issues.
Biden, sitting across from Xi at facing tables, said that Beijing and Washington "share responsibility" to show the world that they can "manage our differences, prevent competition from becoming conflict".
Xi, China's most powerful leader in decades who is fresh from securing a norm-breaking third term, told Biden that the world has "come to a crossroads".
"The world expects that China and the United States will properly handle the relationship," Xi told him.
Despite the upbeat public statements, both nations are increasingly suspicious of each other, with the United States fearing that China has stepped up a timeline for seizing Taiwan.
US officials said ahead of the meeting that Biden hoped to set up "guardrails" in the relationship with China and to assess how to avoid "red lines" that could push the world's two largest economies into conflict.
The most sensitive issue is Taiwan, the self-governing democracy claimed by China.
The United States has been stepping up support for Taiwan, while China has ramped up its threats to seize control of the island. After House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei in August, China reacted by staging unprecedented military drills.
On the eve of his talks with Xi, Biden met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol on the sidelines of a Southeast Asian summit in Cambodia, with the three leaders jointly calling for "peace and stability" on the Taiwan Strait.
Biden is also expected to push China to rein in ally North Korea after a record-breaking spate of missile tests has raised fears that Pyongyang will soon carry out its seventh nuclear test.-AFP
