Politics

Joe Biden and Xi Jinping say they’ll keep in touch – and not much else

Big business boys, including Apple’s Tim Cook, pay big bucks to attend post-summit banquet with Chinese leader and give him standing ovation

Xi Jinping, Chinese premier, and Joe Biden, US president, shake hands at the G20 summit in Bali. Picture: Getty Images

A working group on the export of fentanyl precursor chemicals, an agreement to reopen military lines of communication, some circling of the elephant in the room that was Taiwan – and maybe throw in a few panda bears.

The most important thing about the meeting between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and US president Joe Biden, reporters were told repeatedly, was that it was happening at all.

Communication between the leaders of the world’s biggest economies ...