International

President Biden held a phone call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday, only their second since Biden took office, in an attempt initiated by the U.S. to stabilize the relationship and coax Beijing into more substantive engagement amid deepening competition. The world's two largest economies have been locked in a standoff fueled by festering disagreements on issues including trade, technology and human rights. The White House said in a statement that Biden and Xi "had a broad, strategic discussion in which they discussed areas where our interests converge, and areas where our interests, values, and perspectives diverge. "A senior Biden administration official said the idea for Thursday's call was born of frustration with a perceived unwillingness on the part of lower-level Chinese officials to "engage in serious or substantive conversations."