President Biden and Xi Jinping had their first face-to-face meeting in over a year last Wednesday. It was a productive meeting that yielded agreements to resume military communications, which China cut off last August after Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, and open up a presidential hotline between the two leaders for immediate direct communication at the highest level.

Despite reports from both US and Chinese news outlets last week on a potential agreement to limit the use of AI in nuclear weapons, there was no formal agreement made. The conversation on AI was underwhelming. The leaders did discuss AI, releasing a statement after the meeting that they agreed to “address the risks of advanced AI systems and improve AI safety through U.S.-China government talks.” No additional details on the AI discussions have been released.

Biden didn’t back down on US sanctions blocking the export of powerful semiconductor chips used for AI development, saying that they are not likely to change any time soon.

Ian Bremmer, head of global politics research firm Eurasia Group, spoke at the summit warning political leaders in the audience: “The United States and China for now appear to be heading toward a technology cold war. That has not been fixed, that has not been addressed.”

Still, shares of major US tech companies like Nvidia and Google rose late last week signaling optimism from the tech community as a result of the meeting.

There were positive outcomes in non-tech diplomacy. Xi agreed to go after Chinese chemical companies that are exporting fentanyl-related products to the US & Mexico, one of Biden’s top priorities going into the meeting to curb the opioid crisis in America.

Biden pushed for “peace and stability” in Taiwan while Xi agreed that this was important for the short-term, there needed to be a “peaceful resolution” for the reunification of Taiwan as a part of China.

When asked if he still viewed Xi Jinping as a dictator, Biden responded:

"Well, look, he is. I mean, he’s a dictator in the sense that he is a guy who runs a country that is a communist country," Biden said.

Overall, the meeting was fruitful for US-China relations, and a relief for both countries as tensions have been rising over the last year. Developing the best tech will continue to be a top priority for both countries as we head into an AI cold war, but for now, the communication lines are open and tensions have slightly diffused.