US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping have begun their first bilateral meeting since Biden came into office in January.

Iran PressAmerica: According to Aljazeera, the two men are holding talks over a video conference at a time when the two countries’ relationship is deteriorating over issues including Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the US putting sanctions on Chinese high-tech companies.

Biden began the virtual meeting saying they have a responsibility as leaders to ensure that relations between China and the US do not veer into open conflict.

 This is while the two leaders have spoken by phone twice since Biden’s inauguration in January, but Xi has not traveled overseas since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, ruling out the chance of a face-to-face summit.

In a call with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken ahead of the meeting, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi highlighted Taiwan as a key point of contention between the two countries. 

The meeting is expected to continue for a number of hours.

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