By Yashwant Raj

Washington, Nov 14 (IANS): US President Joe Biden told his China counterpart Xi Jinping on Monday that he is committed to keeping lines of communication open with the latter.

The meeting took place in Bali, a day before the G-20 summit is due to kick off. It was the first physical meeting between Biden and Xi since the former took charge as US President.

Xi spoke about charting a "flight course" for the relationship between the two superpowers, which is important not only for the two countries, but also for the whole world.

The White House said in a statement: "President Biden raised Russia's brutal war against Ukraine and Russia's irresponsible threats of nuclear use. President Biden and President Xi reiterated their agreement that a nuclear war should never be fought and can never be won and underscored their opposition to the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

"President Biden also raised concerns about the DPRK's provocative behavior, noted all members of the international community have an interest in encouraging the DPRK to act responsibly, and underscored the United States' ironclad commitment to defending our Indo-Pacific Allies."

The meeting came a time when ties between the two countries are at a historic low over China's position on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and a visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan, which was cited by Beijing to shut down military-to-military and other lines of communication.

"I am committed to keeping the lines of communication open between you (Xi) and me personally and our governments," Biden said in remarks before the meetkng.