Biden and Xi held extensive bilateral talks on the margins of the APEC Summit in San Francisco last week, during which the leaders agreed to improve communications and resume direct military-to-military contacts. Xi then delivered a speech on investing in China at a high-profile dinner attended by top American CEOs and other business and political leaders.
"The format of the [bilateral] meeting required Biden's presence, so his presence was tolerated - with real communications and sharing of ideas occurring elsewhere and with those sincerely interested in understanding and doing business with China now and in the future," former Pentagon analyst Karen Kwiatkowski told Sputnik.
Xi is leading a country that - unlike the United States - consistently communicates strategic goals that are aligned with China's projected finances, economic engine, and military capability, she added.
"In some ways, the obsequity with which the United States played host to China reveals much more than the language used or even any agreements that may have been made," Kwiatkowski said.
"For this reason, I think that for Xi this meeting accomplished as much as China expected - which was not a lot - and certainly sent the right message, from China's perspective, to the rest of the world."
In contrast to Biden, the political and business leaders of San Francisco and the state of California took the opportunity to negotiate with Chinese figures very seriously, Kwiatkowski said.
"The business dinner was apparently well-attended and delightful. These aspects of the meeting seem peaceful and forward looking," she observed.
The larger part of the problem, she added, is that US leaders in both political parties believe they can plan and act as if the United States is not a politically divided, nearly bankrupt country, she added.
Former hedge fund manager and political analyst Charles Ortel told Sputnik Biden's poor performance and inability to "read cue cards" opened opportunities for China to prey on American weakness.
"The San Francisco summit was a disgraceful display of bumbling weakness on home turf brought to ruin, and temporarily swept clean, by economically illiterate and arrogant, blue state simpletons," Ortel said.