Biden stresses 'trust' in China amid air zone saber-rattling

Emerging from a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday that U.S.-China relations depend on trust and a positive notion of each other's motives, with neither party publicly commenting on an air defense zone that China recently declared, which was promptly violated by the U.S. and its Asian allies.

Biden said the relationship between the two major powers will significantly affect the course of the 21st century. "This new model of major-country cooperation ultimately has to be based on trust and a positive notion about the motive of one another,” he said, adding that Xi's candor and constructive approach had left an impression on him.

"Candor generates trust," Biden said after a meeting that ran more than an hour longer than scheduled. "Trust is the basis on which real change — constructive change — is made."

Although Biden did not publicly mention U.S. concerns over China's new air defense zone, a senior White House official said the issue was discussed during the meeting.

“He indicated that we don’t recognize the zone, that we have deep concerns,” the official said, adding that Biden told Xi that the U.S. is “looking to China to take steps to reduce tensions.”

President Xi was "equally clear" in laying out China's view of the zone and territorial disputes in the region, the official continued. “Ultimately, President Xi took on board what the vice president said. It’s up to China, and we’ll see how things will unfold in the coming days and weeks.”

Beijing provoked widespread anger late last month by declaring an air defense zone in which all aircraft had to be subject to China's orders or face unspecified "defensive emergency measures."

Washington, Tokyo and Seoul all sent military or paramilitary planes into the zone in defiance of Beijing's rules, while the U.S. reiterated its security pact with Japan.

The decades-old argument over East China Sea outcrops, which Beijing calls Diaoyu and Tokyo calls Senkaku, flared after Japan bought some of the islands from their private owners in September 2012.

Since then, China has sent ships and aircraft to nearby waters, while Japan has scrambled fighter jets on hundreds of occasions, raising concerns of an unintended clash.

Beijing has accused the U.S. and Japan — both of which have air defense zones — of double standards over its own zone, saying the real provocateur is Tokyo.

After meeting with Biden, Xi said the U.S.-China relationship had gotten off to a good start this year "and has generally maintained a momentum of positive development." But he said the global situation is changing, with more pronounced challenges and regional hot spots that keep cropping up.

"The world as a whole is not tranquil," Xi said through a translator, adding that the U.S. and China shoulder important responsibilities for upholding peace. "To strengthen dialogue and cooperation is the only right choice facing both of our countries."

At the start of his visit to Beijing, Biden urged Chinese students to challenge orthodoxy, drawing an implicit contrast between the authoritarian rule of China's government and the liberal, permissive intellectual culture he described in the United States.

"I hope you learn that innovation can only occur where you can breathe free, challenge the government, challenge religious leaders," Biden told young Chinese citizens waiting at the U.S. Embassy to get visitor visas processed.

Biden said, "Children in America are rewarded — not punished — for challenging the status quo.”

His comments were not immediately reported by Chinese state media and were not likely to be widely known in China. A one-minute excerpt of his speech posted by the Sina news website included the comment about challenging the “status quo,” but left out the one about challenging the government.

The two leaders had a second meeting involving larger delegations and a working dinner planned for later Wednesday.

Wire services