Earth is 'big enough' for U.S. and China to succeed, Xi says as he meets Biden

BEIJING — U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping met Wednesday outside of San Francisco in their first face-to-face encounter in a year.

The summit, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference, followed efforts between the U.S. and China to increase high-level communication amid continued tensions.

"We have to ensure that competition does not veer into conflict," Biden said at the start of the summit. "Critical global challenges we face, from climate change to counternarcotics to artificial intelligence, demand our joint efforts."

Biden and Xi were widely expected to discuss issues such as curbing fentanyl flows into the U.S., safe use of artificial intelligence, and U.S. restrictions on Chinese access to high-end tech.

"For two large countries like China and the United States, turning their back on each other is not an option," Xi said in his opening remarks. "Planet Earth is big enough for the two countries to succeed."