Gov. Gavin Newsom meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping

BEIJING — California Gov. Gavin Newsom met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday in Beijing, in the latest sign of thawing U.S-China relations amid rising geopolitical conflicts.

The Democratic governor has been in China this week on a visit billed as focused on climate change, in line with California's nation-leading emissions policies. He said his meeting with Xi focused on climate as well as fentanyl exports, which the Biden administration has been trying to curb through sanctions on Chinese chemical companies.

Newsom described the fentanyl conversation as "remarkably positive."

"The president was rather explicit about the desire to be even more specific in terms of what is needed, in terms of calling out and identifying where these chemicals are going," Newsom told reporters after the meeting.

Newsom's emphasis on climate change and subnational cooperation as avenues for diplomacy between the U.S. and China may have paid off. The trip should pave the way for a meeting between President Joe Biden and Xi Jinping at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in San Francisco next month in Newsom's hometown.

Newsom said he encouraged Xi to attend the summit and that "we look forward to his response."

After Xi received Secretary of State Antony Blinken in June and ahalf-dozen senators earlier this month, his meeting with Newsom is the latest signal that he is open to talks. Blinken also announced Monday that he would host Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Washington on Thursday.

The timing of the trip has felt particularly fraught as Newsom flew in directly from meeting with war victims and leaders in Israel, to which Biden has pledged military support in its bombing of Gaza. China has advocated a ceasefire and a two-state solution.

Escalating tensions between the United State and China were reflected in a breakdown of climate talks at the national level last February where special climate envoy John Kerry wasrebuffed in July by President Xi and emerged from meetings with his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua without any new climate agreement. In a speech the same week Kerry was in China, Xi said China will follow its own path to achieve its emission reduction goals, “and will never be influenced by others.”

On stops in Hong Kong, Guangzhou, and now Beijing this week, Newsom, like former California Gov. Jerry Brown before him, has continued to emphasize that progress and partnership on climate change between the world’s two greatest polluters is paramount.

He has focused on areas where California and China can share climate policy and technology, and largely steered clear of areas of conflict between the two countries, like trade disagreements, China’s militaristic stance towards Taiwan and its alignment with Russia in the Russia-Ukraine war.

Newsom met earlier on Wednesday with Wang and discussed climate change, human rights, Hong Kong and democracy, Tibet, and Taiwan. They also spoke about Newsom's trip to Israel last week and a two-state solution, which Newsom said he supports. He didn't say whether he supports a ceasefire.

Newsom also discussed David Lin, a Californian pastor jailed in China since 2006, with Chinese Vice President Han Zheng.

"We hope he's released," Newsom said. "I appreciate the work that has been done to reduce his sentence from a life sentence. But he still looks to be incarcerated through April 2029. Humbly, I submit on the basis of what I know that he should be released."

U.S. Ambassador Nicholas Burns accompanied Newsom to the meetings and praised his role as the first governor to visit China in more than 4 years.

"This was a very positive, consequential day for the United States," he told reporters. "I very much appreciated everything that the governor did to help us push this relationship forward in a positive direction."