Episode 277: Are Pandas and Fentanyl Enough?

Today, Jamil, Les, and Morgan discuss the meeting between President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping at APEC 2023 in San Francisco, the first face-to-face meeting in over a year and Xi’s first visit to the U.S. in six years. The talks aimed to normalize relations at a time when the relationship between the U.S. in China has been fraught with tension. Topics discussed during the summit included re-establishing military-to-military communications, stopping fentanyl precursors from being shipped to the US, and sending us more pandas! Shortly after the summit, though, President Biden (accurately) referred to President Xi as a dictator and many issues, including Chinese threats to Taiwan and IP theft and US export controls.Was this summit all talk, or will we see a real reset? Is China’s effort to force the US to support reunification likely to make things more tense?  Should we take a harder line with China diplomatically?Want to learn more about this topic? Check out these articles that our experts used to frame our discussion: https://www.npr.org/2023/11/16/1213401317/did-biden-and-chinas-xi-hit-a-reset-not-quite-but-they-did-agree-on-a-few-thingshttps://thehill.com/policy/international/4313668-xi-gets-standing-ovation-at-banquet-with-us-executives/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/16/us/politics/biden-xi-china-power-balance.htmlhttps://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/16/biden-xi-dictator-00127548Follow our experts on Twitter: @jamil_n_jaffer @lestermunson@morganlroachLike what we're doing here?  Be sure to rate, review, and subscribe.  And don't forget to follow @masonnatsec on Twitter! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What this episode covers

Today, Jamil, Les, and Morgan discuss the meeting between President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping at APEC 2023 in San Francisco, the first face-to-face meeting in over a year and Xi’s first visit to the U.S. in six years. The talks aimed to normalize relations at a time when the relationship between the U.S. in China has been fraught with tension. Topics discussed during the summit included re-establishing military-to-military communications, stopping fentanyl precursors from being shipped to the US, and sending us more pandas! Shortly after the summit, though, President Biden (accurately) referred to President Xi as a dictator and many issues, including Chinese threats to Taiwan and IP theft and US export controls.Was this summit all talk, or will we see a real reset? Is China’s effort to force the US to support reunification likely to make things more tense? Should we take a harder line with China diplomatically?Want to learn more about this topic? Check out these articles that our experts used to frame our discussion: https://www.npr.org/2023/11/16/1213401317/did-biden-and-chinas-xi-hit-a-reset-not-quite-but-they-did-agree-on-a-few-thingshttps://thehill.com/policy/international/4313668-xi-gets-standing-ovation-at-banquet-with-us-executives/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/16/us/politics/biden-xi-china-power-balance.htmlhttps://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/16/biden-xi-dictator-00127548Follow our experts on Twitter: @jamil_n_jaffer @lestermunson@morganlroachLike what we're doing here? Be sure to rate, review, and subscribe. And don't forget to follow @masonnatsec on Twitter! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.