The leaders of the U.S. and China sat down for talks on Wednesday for the first time in a year amid the global struggle with wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping met at Woodside, south of San Francisco, where they will later attend a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

According to remarks revealed to the media, Biden told Xi that although they have known each other for a long time and they have not always agreed on matters, their meetings “have always been candid, straightforward and useful.”

Biden then stressed the need to ensure that “competition does not veer into conflict” and to manage such competition responsibly.

In response, Xi said the world still faces grave problems since emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that although the global economy is recovering, momentum remains sluggish while “industrial and supply chains are still under the threat of interruption and protectionism is rising.”

Xi then emphasized that “for two large countries like China and the United States, turning their back on each other is not an option.”

He said “it is unrealistic for one side to remodel the other, and conflict and confrontation has unbearable consequences for both sides,” before expressing firm belief in the promising future of the bilateral relationship.

The prevailing diplomatic assessment is that both Washington and Beijing agree on the necessity to stabilize relations as the U.S. is set to hold a presidential election in November of next year and as China’s economic recovery is seemingly falling short of expectations.