Three hours of talking by Biden and Xi got nowhere

Well Washington HAD played down the likelihood of any amazing breakthroughs in the video chat between Joe Biden and Xi Zinping but it seems that in the three and a half hours of chat, nothing concrete was actually agreed apart from some reference to easing visas for their respective media. Three cheers for that, but you would have thought there might have been a little bit more to chew on the day after. At least Xi called Joe his old friend which was nice. But old friends are supposed to look for ways out of problems. Biden and Xi just went over old and familiar ground without meeting in the middle. Taiwan is a hopeless case because there is absolutely no compromise as far as either leader was concerned. Biden adhered to the Congress act which allows the US to help Taiwan defend itself, and Xi made all sorts of warning sounds to Joe to steer clear of Taiwan and not to even consider interferng in the event of a decision by Beijing to take back what he says belongs to China. So the potential for conflict between China and the US remains a realistic possibility. Neither the US nor China wants a war but Xi could not have made it clearer that the US has no right to get involved in a matter which comes solely under China's jurisdiction. Biden will have come away from his video chat with a flea in his ear. All somewhat disappointing but hardly surprising.