“Warm.”

That’s the word China used to describe what was supposed to be a landmark meeting between President Joe Biden and President Xi Jinping, according to the Guardian. The U.S. media is no less eager to inform the public of the meeting’s conciliatory tone; Reuters assured readers that Biden struck a “warm and welcoming tone” in his greeting to the communist dictator. (RELATED: Why Has the CCP Banned Demonizing America?)

As Wednesday’s press conference revealed, however, Biden and Xi may have exchanged a “warm” handshake for the cameras, but the best word to describe their following conversation in a manicured villa outside of San Francisco is “dicey.”

When to Be Blunt

The Biden administration and the Chinese government didn’t confirm the meeting until late last week, at which point mainstream journalists seemed to adopt the position that if Biden and Xi could just get a few hours of face time, all the “tension” between the two nations would evaporate into thin air.

NPR assured its listeners last week that “there’s just been lots of diplomacy,” and that “[Biden and Xi] seem to be keen to stabilize the relationship, to sort of put a floor under it with all this dialogue.”

Reuters followed that up with reports that Biden’s strategy going into the meeting was to be “blunt” with the Chinese leader. Apparently, no one told Biden that he should be less blunt in speaking about Xi to reporters.

“He’s a dictator in the sense that he is the guy who runs a country that is a communist country that is based on a form of government totally different than ours,” the president told reporters. That’s certainly honest, but it’s not quite diplomatic. (Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s facial expression was priceless.)

Little Wins

To be fair to Biden, the meeting does seem to have been partly successful, particularly when discussing fentanyl. Xi agreed to restrict China’s activity in supplying Mexican drug cartels with the tools necessary to flood the U.S. border with the drug — activity that has caused a crisis resulting in more than 73,000 American deaths in 2022 — but what exactly that will mean for the American public remains to be seen. (RELATED: Is Fentanyl China’s Payback to the West for the Opium Wars?)

The win the Biden administration and the media are pushing the most is the reestablishment of military-to-military communications, a basic diplomatic link that had been severed by China after U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi paid a visit to Taiwan last year. Essentially, U.S. naval ships will be able to communicate with their Chinese counterparts in the case of a possible collision or minor disagreement. It’s no breakthrough, but it’s at least one more move toward normalizing relationships.

Big Problems

The fact is that the list of things Biden and Xi need to have a conversation about is much longer than what their short meeting was able to cover. There is plenty contributing to the tension between the two nations: military and economic disagreements; the lack of an agreement about the use of artificial intelligence in surveillance; China’s continued threat to Taiwan amid its upcoming election; and, if you’re the Biden administration, the climate crisis — just to name a few.

Thus, it’s not unexpected that the meeting highlighted enormous disagreements between the U.S. and China — the biggest of which is Taiwan.

Xi reportedly informed Biden that he has no intention of engaging in military action in 2027 or 2035. However, according to U.S. officials, Xi isn’t committed to leaving Taiwan alone, despite the U.S. commitment to protecting the island’s sovereignty.

When Biden pointed out that the Chinese need to let Taiwanese electoral processes play out on their own, Xi reportedly responded, “Look, peace is all well and good, but at some point we need to move towards resolution more generally.” That’s not exactly a comforting response. (READ MORE: At Your Service, Comrade Xi)

Even less comforting — at least, from Taiwan’s perspective — is Biden’s keen interest in putting a Band-Aid on relations with China in light of the U.S.’s current focus on Ukraine and Israel. This is likely why he managed to make himself look the fool by simultaneously asserting Taiwan’s independence and professing to support Xi’s “one-China” policy.

As the editorial board at the Wall Street Journal astutely observed, “Mr. Xi is no doubt sizing up Mr. Biden personally, contemplating how formidable the soon-to-be 81-year-old U.S. President will be as an adversary if relations again take a turn for the worse.”

Xi — like the rest of the United States — is wondering if Biden can handle three wars at once, let alone a world war.