--- title: Biden's Meeting With China's Xi May Not Play So Well at Home description: Biden is meeting with Chin's President as US sentiment toward China is at an all-time low. canonical: https://time.com/6335284/joe-biden-xi-jinping-china-polling/ author: Brian Bennett article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-11-15T12:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-19T07:28:28.161Z article:section: Politics og:title: Biden's Efforts on Global Stage Play Less Well at Home og:description: Biden is meeting with China's leader as US sentiment toward China is at an all-time low, and his efforts in Israel divide Americans og:url: https://time.com/6335284/joe-biden-xi-jinping-china-polling/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfded8ac1c1458571/698a42514ee26263ea31bf41/GettyImages-1760506808.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: President Biden Holds Meeting With Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Biden's Efforts on Global Stage Play Less Well at Home twitter:description: Biden is meeting with China's leader as US sentiment toward China is at an all-time low, and his efforts in Israel divide Americans twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfded8ac1c1458571/698a42514ee26263ea31bf41/GettyImages-1760506808.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Biden Is Leading on the Global Stage. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=35359f43-c88a-48e0-9f1d-255340d9cd8f&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: President Joe Biden Meets with President Xi Jinping to Discuss U.S.-China Relations [Watch (HLS stream): President Joe Biden Meets with President Xi Jinping to Discuss U.S.-China Relations](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/QQyJLUGm.m3u8) (5:01)  _Published 2023-11-15. U.S. President Joe Biden says the aim of his meeting with China's President Xi Jinping is to "better understand each other."_  by [Brian Bennett](https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/)  ## Brian Bennett Bennett is a former senior White House correspondent at TIME. Nov 15, 2023 12:00 PM UTC U.S. President Joe Biden says the aim of his meeting with China's President Xi Jinping is to "better understand each other."  by [Brian Bennett](https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/)  ## Brian Bennett Bennett is a former senior White House correspondent at TIME. Nov 15, 2023 12:00 PM UTC Nine months after the US Air Force shot down a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina, President Joe Biden is set to meet on Wednesday with Chinese President Xi Jinping near San Francisco inside the opulent gardens of the Filoli estate. The goal of the highly anticipated meeting is to repair the diplomatic damage from the balloon episode, say White House officials, and find a way for the two nuclear powers to better compete economically without inadvertently blowing each other up. But Biden's repair mission with Xi may put him out of step with the public, as it comes at a time when American views on China have tanked. Only 15% of Americans currently hold a favorable view of China, the lowest since [Gallup](https://news.gallup.com/poll/471551/record-low-americans-view-china-favorably.aspx#:~:text=The%20latest%2015%25%20record%20low,20%25%20in%202021%20and%202022.&text=Gallup%20has%20tracked%20China's%20image,times%20between%201979%20and%201994.) began tracking public sentiment on China in 1979\. The reasons for China now polling about as favorably [as Congress](https://news.gallup.com/poll/1600/congress-public.aspx) include decades of U.S. manufacturing jobs moving to China, years of xenophobic rants from former President Donald Trump, and the continued ripple effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, for which some US leaders have said China deserves the blame. It’s the latest example of Biden working to restore U.S. engagement on the world stage while a part of the American voting public is moving in the other direction. Biden has devoted much of his term to restoring faith in the U.S. as a reliable partner to its allies after four years of Trump trying to flip the tables on America’s long-standing commitments. But the isolationism Trump gave voice to hasn’t gone away. On Ukraine, Biden’s effort to extend funding to Kyiv to defend itself from Russia’s continued onslaught is running into a small but vocal number of skeptical Republicans in the House and Senate. And in Israel, Biden’s facing pressure, largely from within his party, to temper his full-throated support for Israel defending itself against Hamas and Iran-backed proxy forces as civilian casualties in Gaza mount. “There is a US-led world order that Biden is looking to protect and preserve,” says Jonathan Schanzer, senior vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington think tank. Isolationist ideas are a small but vocal part of both the Democrat and Republican voter base, says Schanzer. “They are a minority, but a vociferous minority.” Schanzer predicts the rift within the Democratic Party over Biden's foreign policy will widen, particularly as Israel’s assault on Gaza continues. “The longer the war goes, the more bloodshed, the more destruction, the harder I think it is going to be for Biden to ignore those voices, even if they’re a minority,” he says. Long-term polling by [Gallup](https://news.gallup.com/poll/472070/democrats-sympathies-middle-east-shift-palestinians.aspx) of Democrats has shown sympathy for Israel in the Middle East situation declining over the past several years. Last year, for the first time in the poll, more Democrats were sympathetic toward Palestinians than Israelis. That trend continued earlier this year, with 49% of Democrats sympathizing more with Palestinians, versus 38% with Israelis. **Read more:** [‘War Is Expensive’: How the Israel Aid Package Went From Big to Bigger](https://time.com/6333253/aid-israel-price-us-14-billion/) Biden may be more aligned with the broader country on the issue, perhaps positioning himself better in a general election. In the country as a whole, Americans' sympathies regarding the conflict in the Middle East generally lie with Israelis. The same Gallup poll found that in 2023, 54% of Americans sympathized with Israelis more and 31% with Palestinians, though that gap has narrowed in recent years. Over the past several weeks, the U.S has mobilized ammunition and military planning support for Israel, and sent US Navy and Air Force firepower to the region to try and deter Iranian proxy forces from further escalating attacks against Israel. But Biden’s support for Israel in the wake of the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that left more than 1,200 dead is increasingly paired with gentle admonitions. In recent days, as Israeli forces have surrounded hospitals in Gaza to take out Hamas fighter positions, Biden has said that hospitals needed to be protected and that he had counseled Israel to pause the fighting to allow the hostages held in Gaza to be released. Further emphasizing this message this week will be Brett McGurk, Biden’s coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, who is traveling to Israel and the region. According to a White House description of McGurk’s itinerary, McGurk will not only discuss Israel’s security needs and efforts to get Hamas to release hostages held in Gaza, but will also pointedly bring up “protecting civilians in the course of military operations” as well as “the need to rein in violent extremist settlers in the West Bank.” In California, Biden will try to set US-China relations on a new course. But that’s going to be hard to do. “It would be naive to put too much weight on this meeting,” says Matthew Kroenig, a political science professor at Georgetown University and a senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. The relationship between the two countries hasn’t gotten worse just because of a spy balloon or a trade imbalance. “The reason relations are deteriorating is because China’s committing genocide, systematically cheating on the global trading system, its threatening its neighbors,” Kroenig says. “One meeting with Biden is not going to turn this relationship around.” ## Transcript [00:19] President Biden [00:23] What's your message to China today about a year and a day ago. [00:28] We met in Bali on the sidelines of the G20 since then key members [00:35] of our teams are important discussions on issues matters [00:40] in both our Nations into the world. [00:42] But as always there is no substitute to face-to-face [00:46] discussion always found our discussion straightforward [00:50] and Frank and I've always appreciate it. [00:52] Mr. President. We known each other for a long time. [00:55] We haven't always agree which was not surprised anyone but our [01:01] meetings have always been candid straightforward [01:03] and useful. [01:05] I've never doubted what you've told me in terms of your candida [01:08] nature and when she speak I value our conversation because [01:12] I think it's Paramount that you and I understand each other [01:16] clearly leader-to-leader with no misconceptions or miscommunication. [01:22] We have to ensure their competition does not fear in the conflict [01:25] and we always have to manage it responsibly that competition. [01:30] That's what the United States want. [01:32] And what we intend to do. [01:34] We also I also believe it to world wines from both of us can [01:38] exchange. We all have a responsibility to our people and the [01:44] work the world to work together when we see it in their interest to [01:48] do so and a critical Global challenges. [01:51] We Face from climate change to counter-narcotics [01:54] to artificial intelligence demand our joint effort. [01:58] Last time. We met in Bali you said it was a year and a day [02:04] ago. [02:06] A lot has happened since then. [02:10] The world has emerged from the covid pandemic. [02:16] But it's still under its tremendous impact the global economy [02:21] is recovering but its momentum remains sluggish industrial [02:26] and Supply chains are still under the threat of interruption [02:29] and protectionism is rising all these are grave problems [02:33] the China us relationship, which is the most important [02:37] bilateral relationship in the world should be perceived [02:41] and envisioned in a broad context of the of the accelerating [02:46] Global Transformations and seen in a century. [02:49] It should develop a tattoo peoples and fulfills our responsibility [02:54] for human pelvis. [02:59] China us relationship has never been smooth sailing over the [03:02] past fifty years and more and it always faces problems of one [03:06] kind or another yet. [03:08] It is kept moving forward and twists and turns for two large [03:12] countries like China United States turning their back on each [03:15] other is not an option. [03:16] It is unrealistic for one side to remodel the other and countless [03:21] and confrontation has a evil consequences for both sides. [03:25] I'm still of the view that major country competition [03:29] is not the prevailing trend of current time and cannot solve [03:33] the problems faced in China and the United States or the World [03:36] At Large planet Earth is big enough for the two countries [03:40] to succeed at one country success is an opportunity for the other. [03:46] It is an objective fact that China and the United States a difference [03:49] in history culture social system and development path. [03:53] However, as long as they respect each other coexist in peace [03:57] and pursue winning cooperation, they will be fully capable [04:00] of rising above differences and find the right weight for the [04:04] two major countries to get along with each other. [04:07] He's in a promising future of the bilateral relationship [04:11] Mr. President You & I we are at the helm of China us relations. [04:18] We showed a heavy responsibility for the two peoples for the [04:22] world and for history. [04:24] I look forward to having. [04:29] In-depth exchange of views and reach new region you and the standings [04:34] with you on strategic an overarching issues critical to the direction [04:38] of Tanya's relations, and no major issues affecting world, [04:42] peace and development. [04:48] I wish to [04:55] Thank you for your thoughts were arrangements for our meeting [04:58] today and for our participation at the Apec meeting. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6335284/joe-biden-xi-jinping-china-polling/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6335284/joe-biden-xi-jinping-china-polling/"},"headline":"Biden Is Leading on the Global Stage. 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