{O/C} President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden met officially for the first time as presidents ahead of the G20 summit in Indonesia.
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The highly-anticipated in-person meeting between Xi and Biden began in a positive light as as both leaders reached out to shake hands.
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Then the two leaders sat down for their first face to face meeting.
Saying he's ready for "candid and in-depth" talks, Xi stressed Sino-U.S. relations remain unsatisfactory at the moment.
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XI JINPING, Voice of Interpretor, Chinese President:
Currently, the China-U.S. relationship is in such a situation that we all care a lot about it because this is not the fundamental interest of our two countries and peoples and it is not what the international community expects us.
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But President Biden struck a peacemaking tone saying differences can be managed.
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JOE BIDEN, United States President:
As the leaders of our two nations, we share a responsibility, in my view, to show that China and the United States can manage our differences, prevent competition from becoming anything ever near conflict, and to find ways to work together on urgent global issues that require our mutual cooperation.
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The two had held five phone or video calls before today's meeting.
From Cambodia a day before the meeting, Biden claimed the duo had "very little misunderstanding", but acknowledged unprecedented circumstances.
Still, discord has engulfed both nations over economic, trade, human rights and security differences.
Biden has repeatedly confronted China over the horrendous human rights abuses in Xinjiang and the clampdowns on democracy advocates in Hong Kong.
The Taiwan issue has also heightened tensions, with Washington promising to defend the island should Beijing spearhead an invasion.
While Beijing presses on with its "One China" policy, Biden insists on the country's "strategic ambiguity" towards Taiwan.
Tensions flared when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi defied Beijing's calls and visited Taiwan in August, prompting Chinese military drills.
Washington has also blocked exports of advanced computer chips to China last month, in a move that escalated the rivalry.
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