Nuclear disarmament and the fight against horrific oil prices - the first details will be revealed at the Biden-Xi summit

The best thing about the US-China summit initially seemed to be that Xi and Biden talk to each other at all.

It is now clear: there were also specific issues, such as the price of oil and nuclear weapons.

Washington / Beijing / Munich - One day after the online summit between President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden, the first details of the meeting leaked out. China and the US want to talk about nuclear disarmament on a regular basis. In addition, according to Chinese media reports, they discussed a possible release of strategic oil reserves. This measure should help to suppress the rapidly rising oil price worldwide.

The two states had not previously worked together on nuclear weapons and disarmament. It is therefore quite surprising that Biden and Xi have now agreed a series of high-profile dialogues on nuclear disarmament, as Biden's National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan announced at an event in Washington. According to Sullivan, Biden had put the issue on the agenda. The US is concerned about China's rapidly growing nuclear arsenal. The US Department of Defense recently warned that China could already have around 1,000 nuclear warheads available at any time by 2030. Washington has repeatedly urged China to join him and Russia in a new arms control treaty.Biden is also concerned about the recent tests of two hypersonic missiles and the militarization of the Indo-Pacific by China, according to Sullivan.

China and the US: Shared Concerns about Excessive Oil Prices

One thing that worries both countries is the soaring price of oil.

China is the largest oil importer in the world;

the US one of the largest consumers.

Therefore, following Chinese media reports, the two heads of state discussed a possible release of strategic oil reserves.

In view of rising oil prices, Joe Biden asked Xi Jinping to put oil reserves on the market together with the USA, reports the

, among others

citing an anonymous source.

The associated hope: to lower the high prices again.

China is open to the idea, but has not yet decided on any concrete measures, the newspaper's source said.

Biden is under pressure in the face of high inflation rates in the US.

Also because the Association of Oil-Producing States OPEC has so far rejected an increase in its oil exports, which would be necessary to ease oil prices.

China and the USA: Agreement on the entry of journalists

Just a few hours after the summit, Chinese media reported that a framework agreement negotiated shortly before the meeting that restores the rights of US correspondents in China. Some of them, including reporters from the

and the

, were expelled from the country in March 2020. At the same time, the US is supposed to let proven Chinese journalists back into the country. A US government spokesman confirmed the reports. However, details are still missing: Chinese diplomats always like to make general agreements first, which are later to be filled with life. This often creates uncertainty about the implementation, as is the case in this case.

Meanwhile, there was trouble for Biden elsewhere on Wednesday.

Domestic politics caught up with the president in his China policy when Republican Senator Marco Rubio blocked the appointment of Nicholas Burns as US ambassador to Beijing.

Such a procedural blockade, which is possible in the US Senate even by a single senator, will at least delay the dispatch of the ambassador.

Burns did not see the threat posed by the Chinese leadership, Rubio criticized.

The US has been without an ambassador in Beijing for nine months.

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