While there were not a lot of smiles during the first U.S.-China summit in a year, Joe Biden did receive a thank you from Xi Jinping for how the U.S. handled protocol matters. (Nikkei montage/Source photos by Reuters)

Analysis: Xi saves face by meeting Biden but accomplishes little

Back home, second-generation reds turn critical of 'personal autocracy'

KATSUJI NAKAZAWA, Nikkei senior staff writer

November 17, 2023 19:17 JST

Katsuji Nakazawa is a Tokyo-based senior staff and editorial writer at Nikkei. He spent seven years in China as a correspondent and later as China bureau chief. He was the 2014 recipient of the Vaughn-Ueda International Journalist prize.

A behind-the-scenes power struggle was what drove Chinese President Xi Jinping all the way to California to meet face-to-face with his U.S. counterpart for the first time in a year.