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President Barack Obama had dinner at Blair House across from the White House late Thursday with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, after which his press staff announced the two leaders would be announcing a major bilateral deal to combat climate change.
However, both heads of state were also to have highly tense discussions over cyber theft and the Chinese military buildup in the South Chinese Sea.
“The presidents broke bread in the shadow of rising tensions between the United State and China,” USA Today reported.
The climate change deal to be announced this Friday, both nations will present a “common vision” for a global climate change agreement to be negotiated at the Cop 21 in Paris, which is a climate control summit that will be attended by 50,000 delegates from around the world, including 25,000 government officials.
According to USA Today, the United States and China will commit to expanding domestic programs to reduce heat-trapping carbon emissions, develop new and cleaner sources of energy and find ways to fund these projects.
Obama chats with Xi on their way to a private dinner across the street from the White House. | Photo: Reuters
The agreement to be announced is part of a deal Obama and Xi reached when they met in China in late 2014.
Xi press team said the dinner was part of a major objective of the Chinese president.
“President Xi is interested in enhancing understanding, that’s why they would benefit from an informal dialogue,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said before the dinner. "Teams on both sides are working very hard for deliverables the [president] can announce tomorrow.”
He gave no further details, but said Obama and Xi agree on many topics of mutual interest, including climate change, economy, nuclear non-proliferation and resolving the conflict with Iran and on the Korean peninsula.
The awkwardness will arise when both leaders touch on the subject of cyber espionage, a crime the Obama administration has accused China of. The U.S. has also accused China of provoking them and their allies Japan and South Korea with the issue of the South China Sea islands.
“[Beijing and Washington] may have some differences sometimes, but we also have a lot of common ground,” Lu said. "Any cooperation, any joint venture will have to based on mutual respect, mutual benefit and also equality.”
The Chinese spokesperson also said China is a victim of cyber attacks and crime, which is why he suggested that, "The right approach is for countries to work together rather than undertake unconstructive approaches.”
Xi arrived in Washington D.C. Thursday and was greeted by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill.
The visit presents "an opportunity to expand U.S.-China cooperation on a range of global, regional, and bilateral issues of mutual interest, while also enabling Obama and Xi to address areas of disagreement constructively," the White House said earlier in the day.
The Obama administration had considered slapping sanctions on Chinese entities that have benefited from hacking sensitive business information.
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"(We) are preparing a number of measures that will indicate to the Chinese that this is not just a matter of us being mildly upset, but is something that will put significant strains on the bilateral relationship if not resolved, and that we are prepared to (take) some countervailing actions in order to get their attention," Obama said at a quarterly meeting of the Business Roundtable (BRT).
According to former National Security Agency Director General Keith Alexander, attacks from China cost the U.S. economy US$338 billion in 2012.
In 2014, the U.S. Justice Department issued indictments towards five Chinese military officials for allegedly carrying out cyber attacks against six U.S. companies in the nuclear power, metals, and solar products industries.
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