FirstFT: Joe Biden and Xi Jinping hold summit in attempt to stabilise relations

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Good morning. Joe Biden and Xi Jinping held a high-profile summit in San Francisco earlier today in a renewed attempt to stabilise US-China relations.

The US administration played down expectations ahead of the meeting, the leaders’ first since 2021, saying it was focused on managing risks of further deterioration in the relationship rather than producing splashy outcomes.

“We have to ensure that competition does not lead to conflict,” Biden told Xi as the meeting began, adding that the countries could work together on issues ranging from artificial intelligence to the climate. Shortly before the meeting, the US and China agreed to accelerate the rollout of renewable energy to displace their heavy reliance on fossil fuels.

“Planet Earth is big enough for the two countries to succeed,” Xi said. Follow the developments from the summit here, and catch up on the latest US-China news:

• Chinese economy: China’s consumer and industrial activity expanded faster than expected in October, adding to hopes of improvement as the economy continues to grapple with a sluggish recovery from the pandemic.

• Interview: A Shanghai-based manufacturer has accused the Biden administration of fostering a “xenophobic” environment for Chinese investors.

• Investment restrictions: The main US federal government pension fund is to exclude China- and Hong Kong-listed stocks in response to rising tensions between the world’s two largest economies.

Here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today:

• Apec: The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum continues in San Francisco, but Joe Biden’s plan to announce an Indo-Pacific trade deal at the gathering has been derailed.

• Companies: Alibaba, Lenovo and Walmart are among those reporting earnings.

• Spain: Acting prime minister Pedro Sánchez is expected to secure a second term in a parliamentary vote as anger grows over an amnesty deal that has become the price for the Socialist leader to retain power.

Five more top stories

1. Taiwan’s two main opposition parties have agreed to put their respective candidates on a joint ticket for January’s hotly contested presidential election. The deal sharply increases the odds that the ruling Democratic Progressive party will lose power. Here’s how that could affect relations with Beijing.

2. Israeli troops were searching Gaza’s largest hospital in what they called a “targeted” operation to find Hamas weapons and infrastructure, as concern grew for thousands of patients and civilians sheltering at the site. The IDF says al-Shifa hospital sits on top of underground tunnels housing Hamas command centres, claims that doctors at the medical facility have repeatedly dismissed. Read the latest on the conflict.

• US stance on war: Joe Biden is under mounting pressure to rein in Israel’s military campaign within a matter of weeks, as US allies and administration officials recoil at the mounting death toll in Gaza.

3. EY has appointed Janet Truncale to be its next global chief executive. Truncale will be the first woman in charge of a Big Four accounting firm, and replaces Carmine Di Sibio, who is retiring in the wake of a failed plan to spin off EY’s consulting arm.

4. Microsoft has unveiled its first bespoke chips for artificial intelligence in the cloud. The new processors will be deployed in its Azure data centres next year, supporting its services including OpenAI and Copilot. The launch comes as developers seek alternative suppliers to Nvidia, which dominates the market for AI processors.

5. SoftBank’s Vision Fund has been accused of “destroying” a Gen Z-focused social media company it once valued at more than $1bn to safeguard its reputation as an investor. The co-founders of IRL allege in a lawsuit that the Japanese group concocted a “flagrant, outrageous lie” that the app was almost entirely populated by bots as a pretext for closing the struggling start-up in June.

The Big Read

Is Indonesia finally set to become an economic superpower? Four years after President Joko Widodo ratified his $32bn dream to move the capital from Jakarta to Nusantara, an equatorial outpost on Borneo, the effort has been criticised as an expensive vanity project. In an interview with the FT, Widodo argues it is a chance to transform the country’s economic geography.

We’re also reading . . . 

• ICBC’s role in US Treasury market: The disruption caused by the hack of China’s largest lender shows how the bank has become an important link in the $26tn market.

• Whistleblower protections: A series of corporate scandals has recently laid bare the weakness of legal protections for whistleblowers in Japan, writes Kana Inagaki.

• Industrial action: Bangladesh garment exporters say western fashion brands are not paying “ethical” prices, as protests over wages sparked factory closures.

Chart of the day

Japan’s third-quarter gross domestic product declined 2.1 per cent on an annualised basis, a sharper contraction than expected. The decline underscores the fragility of the country’s post-pandemic recovery and complicates the Bank of Japan’s efforts to unwind its ultra-loose monetary policy.

Take a break from the news

Film critic Danny Leigh has his say on Napoleon, Ridley Scott’s epic of military genius and rapid-fire sex starring Joaquin Phoenix.

Additional contributions from Euan Healy and George Russell