Washington, 2 April 2024 (dpa/MIA) - US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping have spoken on the phone for the first time since their crisis meeting in California in November, the White House said on Tuesday.

After a year of complete radio silence, the two presidents met in person last November near San Francisco in order to stabilize strained relations. They promised to follow up with regular phone calls - an agreement that has finally been honoured.

"The two leaders held a candid and constructive discussion on a range of bilateral, regional, and global issues, including areas of cooperation and areas of difference," a White House statement said.

A high-ranking representative of the US government said separately that further dialogue at Cabinet level was to be expected after the presidential telephone call. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen plans to travel to China again in the coming days and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the coming weeks.

Visits by members of the Chinese government to the US are also planned. In addition, there will soon be a telephone call between the defence ministers of the two countries.

The resumption of military communication between the two powers was seen as the most important outcome of the in-person meeting between Biden and Xi in California four and a half months ago.

The US government had previously complained that the usual direct exchange between the armed forces was not working and that this could lead to dangerous misunderstandings and miscalculations in crisis situations.

The relationship between the world's two largest economies has long been tense, partly due to economic sanctions against Beijing, and fears in the West that China's army could invade Taiwan.

According to the White House statement, "President Biden emphasized the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and the rule of law and freedom of navigation in the South China Sea."

Biden also raised concern about Beijing's "support for Russia’s defence industrial base and its impact on European and trans-Atlantic security."

The US president also brought up China's "unfair trade practices."

"The president emphasized that the United States will continue to take necessary actions to prevent advanced US technologies from being used to undermine our national security, without unduly limiting trade and investment," the statement said.

The two presidents met in California in November on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, albeit far from the summit venue and in an idyllic setting: a lavish estate outside San Francisco.

Previously, Biden and Xi had not seen each other or spoken in person for a whole year, since the G20 summit in Bali in November 2022. The most recent phone call before Tuesday was also a long time ago: according to the US side, the two last spoke by phone in July 2022.

Photo: MIA Archive