INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The US and China have agreed to resume military-to-military communications in an effort to ease rising tensions, President Joe Biden
Wednesday.It was the first time the pair had spoken in person in more than a year.Mr Biden also said both leaders had agreed to establish a
direct line of communication with one another.At a news conference following the summit, which took place at a historic country estate near
Beijing views self-ruled Taiwan as its territory, and has threatened to annex it by force if necessary.Mr Biden said that, while many
the sense that he is a guy who runs a country..
well as resuming military communications, the two sides announced several other agreements in areas that have become sources of tension in
recent times.These included taking steps to tackle the flow of fentanyl into the US, which has contributed to a rise in overdose deaths in
the country.Chinese manufacturing companies are a source not only of the synthetic opioid itself but of precursor chemicals which can be
Biden said.Under the deal, China will directly target companies that are producing those precursor chemicals
One senior US official told reporters that Mr Biden had asked China to use its influence with Iran to urge it not to take steps that could
be seen as provocative.The two superpowers also agreed to jointly examine artificial intelligence (AI), and had a lengthy conversation about
a senior US administration official said.Relations deteriorated in February when a suspected Chinese spy balloon was shot down over US
airspace.US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Beijing in June, making him the highest-ranking Washington official to visit the
Chinese capital in almost half a decade
He met President Xi and foreign minister Qin Gang.At the end of his trip, Mr Blinken said that while there were still major issues between
