California Governor Gavin Newsom met with Chinese President Xi Jinping

on

On Wednesday, the U.S. grappled with rising tensions with the world’s second-largest economy and the Democratic governor tried to navigate a challenging diplomatic landscape on a trip intended to promote climate cooperation.

The meeting in the Great Hall of the People

centrally

Beijing

comes came

when China’s top diplomat announced plans to visit Washington

on

Thursday and weeks before the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation conference in San Francisco, where President Biden could meet Xi signals that both sides could make efforts to improve what has become a frosty relationship.

It was Newsom’s second meeting with A

head of state foreign head of government

in less than a week after meeting

of

Israeli

Chairman Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu made an extraordinary foray into international affairs in Tel Aviv on Friday for a governor who has no authority on global affairs. Although he has repeatedly said he has no plans to run for president, Newsom’s sudden move into international diplomacy allows him to gain experience that could help him in a future run for higher office.

In Beijing, where Chinese handlers are strictly controlled

press media

US reporters were denied access to the meeting between Newsom and Xi.

To talk with

the press reporters

afterward, Newsom said he

spoke spoke

with Xi on climate change, trade and tourism, and the fentanyl crisis gripping the United States, areas where he hopes the two nations can work together.

About fentanyl, Newsom said the

j two men

discussed so-called “precursor chemicals” that are making their way as deadly pills through the black market from China to Mexico and then to the US.

“We talked about the importance of this issue and how it has played an outsized role as the leading cause of death for 18- to 49-year-olds in the United States,” Newsom said. “Every day in San Francisco it takes the life of more than one person.”

He described fentanyl as an issue that “should scare every parent” because of the large number of young people dying from taking pills.

That

they don’t know it contains the drug.

“This is a big, big problem,” Newsom said.

For

his discussion meeting

With Xi, Newsom met with three other Chinese officials. U.S. media were allowed to report only a few minutes of each of these meetings, while Newsom and the Chinese dignitaries made introductory remarks.

Newsom said he spoke with them about issues including human rights abuses in Hong Kong, his desire for a two-state solution in Israel and his hope that China will release David Lin, a California resident who has been held in China for many years.

“We hope David Lin comes back. We hope he’s released,” Newsom said. “He’s 67 years old, he’s a man of faith, and he’s acting like a hero. … Based on what I know, and with humility, but with what I know, he should be released. “

Newsom said he sees discussions about cooperation in the fight against climate change as a way to open the door to broader alliances between

the

countries, noting that “we all breathe the same air.”

A tense geopolitical climate hangs over Newsom’s journey to advance cooperation on climate-friendly technologies

like like

electric vehicles and wind energy. US-China relations were already tense

and before

This month there has been talk of an outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas

ed

a new potential

wedge flash point

between the world’s two superpowers.

China and Russia announced last week that they plan to work together to create an alliance that could try to counter US support for Israel. The Pentagon recently reported that China is building up its nuclear arsenal faster than previously expected and is likely studying Russia’s war in Ukraine to get an idea of ​​how a conflict over Taiwan might play out. China immediately fired back that the report was false, and condemned the US

.

as the world’s greatest disruptor of regional peace and stability, citing recent US actions to aid Israel and Ukraine.

This is all on top of US-China disagreements over trade, human rights and the militarization of the South China Sea. In February, the US shot down a Chinese balloon flying over sensitive military installations. In August, Biden signed an executive order to block and regulate U.S. investments in Chinese technology companies.

Newsom said he urged Xi to come to San Francisco for the

global

APEC conference next month, but said it was up to the Chinese president to announce whether he will make the trip.

Newsom is the first U.S. governor to visit China since 2019. His visit could help improve the dynamic between the two nations, said Susan Shirk, a political scientist and founding chair of the 21st Century China Center at UC San Diego.

The US warns of a Chinese global disinformation campaign that could threaten peace and stability

Right now, the US and China are in a downward spiral in their relationship. It is really very dangerous and we cannot prevent further deterioration of relations or even the risk of war unless our decision makers talk to each other, Shirk said.

So diplomacy is very important.

Newsom’s meeting with Xi came at the end of a day of talks with senior government officials in Beijing. Hello Nieuwsom

the day started

in Beijing on Wednesday

signing a clean energy agreement with the leader of

the Chinas

National Commission for Development and Reform, which provides oversight

China belongs to the country

economic development plans. He then met with Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who is traveling to Washington

DC

this week to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken.

It was

are Newsom’s

meeting with Vice President Han Zheng, which showed the personal dimension of political relations

that building built

after a while. Zheng remembers almost meeting Newsom

20 twenty

years ago when he was mayor of Shanghai and Newsom was mayor of San Francisco. As sister cities, San Francisco and Shanghai developed long-lasting economic and cultural exchanges that Zheng called a good example of subnational cooperation between China and the US.

The

China-US relations

his is”

the world’s most important bilateral relations, and subnational cooperation

is [plays]

an indispensable part to facilitate healthy and steady growth of China-US relations, he said through an interpreter.

Relations at national level must also include relations between states, between sectors of society and between businesses. Only by doing this can we put relations back into the right developmental channel.

Newsom paid tribute to the late Senator Dianne Feinstein in his remarks to the vice president, recalling her work to establish the sister city relationship with Shanghai when she was mayor of San Francisco in the 1980s:

I cannot emphasize to you more how indelible her memory and her mentorship are in maintaining the relationship with China.

Hello Nieuwsom

said. It is the foundation that has been laid that reminds me how important it is to continue to advance this spirit that unites us here today.

Shirk

the political scientist who wrote a book called Overreach: How China Derailed Its Peaceful Rise, at UC San Diego

said it is risky for American politicians to engage with Chinese officials. But, she said, it’s also helpful.

China will be here forever even after Xi Jinping, she said. So it is very good to maintain relationships on a human-to-human level.