During?their meeting ahead of the Group of 20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia on November 14,?Chinese President Xi Jinping and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden?conducted?a candid and in-depth exchange of?opinions?on a wide range of issues concerning bilateral ties and global priorities?as the world watched.

As many?people?worry?the tense Sino-American?status quo?may lead the world to a confrontation of two camps and turn globalization into fragmentation, the meeting between the nations’?two?top?leaders?does in fact?has?sent?a positive signal, Wang Yiwei, Director of the Institute of International Affairs at Renmin University of China, told?Beijing Review.

The positive?thing?is that the Xi-Biden meeting took place. These men haven’t met in person since Biden was vice president during Barack Obama’s presidency?(2009-17), Josef Gregory Mahoney, a professor of politics and international relations?at East China Normal University,?told?Beijing Review.?“There’s just so much more that can be gained from meeting in?person instead of online,”?he added.

It allowed the two statesmen to publicly declare that they see the other as an ally in the fight against some of the world’s most pressing problems,?Anthony Moretti, an associate professor at Robert Morris University,?the U.S., told?Beijing Review.

“Only when both sides meet each other halfway,?can we bring?bilateral?relations back on the track of stable development,”?Zhao Minghao, a professor at the Institute of International Studies?under?Shanghai-based Fudan University, explained.

However,?some questions remain. “Can Biden do more than talk the talk? Does he want to turn the corner and seek common ground in lieu of advancing an already faltering containment strategy? [The] meeting was a positive step, but no indication of real change,”?Mahoney said.

Mahoney also shared?further?concerns as he?believes?no real breakthroughs?have been?made. The two sides?made no announcement of a resumption of bilateral talks on climate change or military-to-military communication–two issues that are baselines for mitigating dangers associated with potentially existential threats.?“Although no breakthrough on the [U.S.-initiated] trade war was expected, many still listened for one and heard nothing,”?he added.