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US President Joe Biden hailed his "most constructive" talks with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping Wednesday, as they agreed at their first summit in a year to restore military-to-military communications and ease tensions.
The leaders of the world's biggest economies shook hands and smiled as they met at a historic estate in California for their first talks in a year, and wrapped up the four-hour summit with a walk in the garden, reports AFP.
"I have just concluded several hours of meetings with President Xi and I believe they are some of the most constructive and productive discussions we've had," Biden told a press conference at the Filoli estate in California.
Biden said that while he disagreed on many issues with the Chinese Communist leader, whom he has known since 2011, Xi had "just been straight" with him during the talks on Wednesday.
The move to restore a military hotline, which China severed after then US House speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in 2022, was "critically important," he added.
But Xi and Biden remained far apart on the wider flashpoint of Taiwan, with the Chinese president telling his US counterpart to stop arming the Taiwan and saying that reunification was "unstoppable".
Beijing claims sovereignty over the self-ruling democracy and has not ruled out seizing it by force.
The two sides announced a host of other agreements, including that China had agreed to tackle the production of ingredients for the drug fentanyl, responsible for a deadly epidemic of opioid abuse in the United States, officials on both sides said after the talks.
They also agreed to hold talks on artificial intelligence, Chinese state media said.
Bd-pratidin English/Golam Rosul
