At the start of his much-anticipated meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Joe Biden stressed that the two leaders must ensure that “rivalry does not turn into conflict,” expressing a desire to rekindle dialogue between Washington and Beijing.

“Two big countries like the US and China cannot turn their backs on each other,” Xi Jinping told the US president, stressing that the conflict and confrontation would have “unbearable consequences for everyone”.

The US president shook hands with his Chinese counterpart as he got out of his car, saying “nice to see you again”.

The tete-tete, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, is the first between the two leaders since they met on the sidelines of G20 work in Indonesia a year ago. The meeting at a country house located about 40 kilometers from San Francisco is expected to last several hours and is aimed at normalizing strained relations between the two superpowers.