New Delhi: President Joe Biden on Monday objected to China’s “coercive and increasingly aggressive actions” toward Taiwan and raised human rights concerns about Beijing’s conduct in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong during his first in-person meeting with President Xi Jinping since the US president took office, the White House said.

Both agreed to resume engagement on issues such as climate change

In its statement on the roughly three-hour meeting, the White House said Biden told Xi that the U.S would “continue to compete vigorously” with China, but that “competition should not veer into conflict.”

The White House said Biden and Xi also agreed that “a nuclear war should never be fought” and can’t be won, “and underscored their opposition to the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine.” That was a reference to Russian officials’ thinly-veiled threats to use atomic weapons as its nearly nine-month invasion of Ukraine has faltered.

Both agreed to resume engagement on issues such as climate change and to work together on maintaining global economic stability.