(LOS ANGELES) — The iconic Staples Center in Los Angeles will change its name to the Crypto.com Arena this Christmas, marking the end of an era for the stadium and becoming perhaps the latest signpost of cryptocurrency’s push toward the mainstream.
The name change is “recognizing these technologies will be at the forefront of powering the future of culture, creativity and entertainment in Los Angeles,” stadium operators said in a statement Wednesday, as cryptocurrency trading has surged among individual investors throughout the pandemic.
The 20,000-seat venue has been called the Staples Center, after the office supply chain, since opening its doors in 1999.
The venue has gained national prominence after hosting major events such as the 2000 Democratic National Convention, 19 of the last 21 Grammy Awards shows and concerts from global superstars including Beyonce and Taylor Swift. It is also home to the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers, as well as the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings and the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks.
Details on how much Crypto.com, a Singapore-based crypto trading platform and non-fungible token marketplace, paid for its new namesake stadium in Los Angeles were not released. The deal was brokered by sports and live entertainment giant AEG Global Partnerships, which owns and operates the arena.
Starting on Christmas Day, when the Lakers host the Brooklyn Nets, the stadium will unveil its new logo and internal signage. All external signage will be replaced by June.
“Known as the Creative Capital of the World, the city of Los Angeles and the people who call it home have always been pioneers, pushing the boundaries and innovating as the undeniable global leaders of culture and entertainment,” Crypto.com co-founder and CEO Kris Marszalek, said in a statement Wednesday. “We’re very excited about partnering with AEG and investing long term in this city, starting with Crypto.com Arena in the heart of downtown, and using our platform in new and creative ways so that cryptocurrency can power the future of world class sports, entertainment and technology for fans in LA and around the world.”
Crypto.com also recently added actor Matt Damon as a spokesperson as it seeks to ramp up brand recognition in the U.S.
“This partnership represents the fastest-growing cryptocurrency platform and the biggest sports and live entertainment company in the world converging to drive the future of sports and live entertainment,” said Todd Goldstein, the chief revenue officer at AEG. Goldstein added that it marks “an exciting new chapter in the history of our company and our respective industries.”
The name change echoes trends seen elsewhere in the U.S., as earlier this year Venmo and PayPal announced they would start letting users buy and sell crypto on their apps.
(LOS ANGELES) — The Staples Center is getting a new name before the new year.
Arena owner AEG announced Tuesday a new 20-year partnership with Singapore-based cryptocurrency platform, Crypto.com. Beginning December 25, the Staples Center will be known as Crypto.com Arena.
The arena first opened in 1999 and has been called the Staples Center ever since. It is home to several professional sports teams including the NBA’s Lakers and Clippers, the WNBA’s Sparks, and the NHL’s Kings.
The name change comes just in time for the NBA’s annual Christmas showcase between the Lakers and the Brooklyn Nets.
Crypto.com says the December name change will unveil a new logo and interior signage but fans can expect to see the exterior sings to change by June 2022.
(NEW YORK) — The number of people who were hospitalized for eating disorders in the United States doubled during the COVID-19 pandemic, new research shows.
The increase in in-patient treatment for eating disorders came as early as May 2020, according to researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, whose study was published Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
Rising cases were seen across anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and unspecified eating disorders, according to the study.
The researchers attributed the increased rates of hospitalization to several factors, including the conditions of the pandemic that may have promoted eating disorder behaviors, such as grocery shopping being a more “fraught” experience and the fact that schools and colleges were closed, which may have led to covert eating disorder symptoms being caught by families in close quarters.
A delay in outpatient care may have also led to increased hospitalizations, according to the researchers.
Data has previously shown the pandemic has brought on a mental health crisis in the U.S., of which eating disorders are a major part.
Throughout the pandemic, the National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) said it has seen a spike of more than 70% in the number of calls and online chat inquiries to its hotline compared to the same time period in 2019.
“This has been a time of heightened anxiety for everyone,” NEDA’s CEO Claire Mysko told Good Morning America last year. “For people with eating disorders, either those who are actively struggling or those who are pursuing recovery, there’s an added stressor with the pandemic.”
The Emily Program, a national network of eating disorder treatment centers, has seen inquiries both online and by phone “fly off the charts” during the pandemic, Dr. Jillian Lampert, the Emily Program’s chief strategy officer, also told GMA.
The nature of the pandemic, with its uncertainty and isolation, makes it a situation that “checks every box” for putting people at a higher risk for eating disorders, according to Lampert.
“We’re seeing people calling now in a more acute, intense stage [of an eating disorder],” Lampert said last year. “So we’re seeing not only are more people calling, but more people are calling in a more crisis situation.”
Eating disorders have remained second only to opioid overdose as the deadliest mental illness throughout the pandemic, with eating disorders responsible for one death every 52 minutes in the U.S., according to data shared by the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders.
Nearly 30 million Americans will have an eating disorder in their lifetime, according to the association.
If you or someone you know is battling an eating disorder, contact the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) at 1-800-931-2237 or NationalEatingDisorders.org.
(WASHINGTON) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is running headfirst into a number of fires as he makes his first trip to Africa as America’s top diplomat.
Nearly 10 months into his tenure, Blinken will bring U.S. President Joe Biden’s “America’s back” mantra to the world’s youngest continent. But for years now, the United States has been playing catch-up to China in many of Africa’s 54 countries. China has promoted deep business and diplomatic ties and invested in infrastructure, while the U.S. has said next to nothing about the region’s democratic backsliding.
Millions of donated U.S. vaccine doses have helped boost American influence, but Blinken’s visit to promote that generosity and increased U.S. engagement will also be sidetracked by growing crises that have consumed the State Department’s attention — the worsening conflict in Ethiopia and the derailed democratic transition in Sudan.
Notably, he will skip Ethiopia — once a staple of secretary of state visits because it was one of the continent’s fastest-growing economies and home to the African Union’s headquarters. But amid high concerns about the bloody war there, Ethiopia will still be a major topic, with Blinken expected to focus a fair amount of his time in Nairobi on the issue after warning on Friday the country could “implode.”
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta met with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Sunday, pushing again for a ceasefire after a year of fighting that has pitted Abiy’s federal government against the forces in the Tigray region who once dominated national politics. As Abiy’s troops, backed by the neighboring country Eritrea and the neighboring region Amhara, continue to blockade Tigray, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front has been joined by other ethnic-based groups in a march toward the capital, Addis Ababa, possibly to overthrow Abiy’s government.
“Certainly the Ethiopia matter is an important one and takes up a tremendous amount of time and attention by our leadership,” Ervin Massinga, a top U.S. diplomat for Africa, told reporters before the trip.
But while some have called for greater U.S. leadership, including sanctions against the Ethiopian government and Tigrayan leaders fighting on either side, Massinga said the U.S. is committed “to African partnerships and African solutions to African challenges.”
The African Union’s special envoy, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, has been the leading mediator, shepherding quiet but intense diplomacy to achieve a ceasefire and start political negotiations. Obasanjo will return to Addis Ababa “in the coming days,” a senior State Department official said Tuesday, and while the administration may again deploy its special envoy for the region, Jeffrey Feltman, they will continue “supporting [Obasanjo’s] process as much as possible and looking for there to be progress,” they added.
The U.S. also remains engaged across the border in Sudan, where military leaders have derailed a historic transition to democracy that was celebrated around the world. The top U.S. diplomat for Africa, Ambassador Molly Phee, arrived in Khartoum Sunday — the highest-level American official to visit since Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan and other military leaders detained their civilian counterparts in a transitional government that was meant to steer the country toward democratic elections next July.
So far, U.S. cuts to economic aid, the suspension of loans from the World Bank and others and mass demonstrations across Sudan have not convinced Burhan to reverse course. As time goes on, some analysts warn it will be more difficult to dislodge Burhan’s newly installed picks in a transitional government.
But Blinken will try to pivot attention to what the Biden administration casts as a reinvigorated U.S. relationship with countries across Africa, after four years of the Trump administration largely ignoring or insulting Africans.
In particular, Blinken will focus on addressing the coronavirus pandemic, combatting climate change, investing in infrastructure and boosting democracy and the rule of law, according to Massinga, who added he would “really talk to the entirety of the continent” through speeches and engagements in the three countries.
It’s that first issue in particular that many hope to hear more about from Blinken. Kenya, Nigeria and Senegal have each vaccinated fewer than 6% of their populations, per the University of Oxford’s Our World in Data, as Americans are increasingly being offered booster shots. In fact, wealthy countries are administering nearly six times more booster shots than low-income countries are offering first shots, according to the ONE Campaign, an advocacy group.
“As the days go without enough vaccines, Africa remains exposed to a virus that has had hard-hitting effects on our health systems, threatened our fragile economic growth and stifled the capacity to provide basic services such as sanitation and education,” said Edwin Ikhuoria, ONE’s Africa executive director, adding that without vaccines, Africa faces “a perpetual pandemic, which has set us back and is reversing the developmental gains of the last 25 years on the continent.”
In addition to vaccines, many countries have been looking to the U.S. for infrastructure investment after years of China’s One Belt, One Road projects. Last week, senior White House official Daleep Singh concluded a tour through Ghana and Senegal, after a similar swing through Latin America, beginning conversations about what developments the U.S. and other Western countries could back — part of Biden’s “Build Back Better World” initiative with G-7 countries meant to raise climate, anti-corruption and labor standards in competition with Beijing.
The U.S. is seeking a partnership “based on increasing democracy and cooperation and that builds on people-to-people connections, fosters new economic engagements and reinforces our shared values grounded in renewed commitment to democracy and human rights,” Massinga said.
But there is much work to do on those issues, especially after six coups — in Mali, Guinea and Chad — or attempted coups across the continent this year. In Nigeria, for example, Africa’s most populous country and a “partly free” democracy, according to the think tank Freedom House, Blinken will have to address a president that has banned Twitter and security forces that were just found responsible for killing protesters.
While renewed U.S. interest is welcome in many capitals, it’s also unclear whether the U.S. and its partners will sustain it, especially after hearing similar rhetoric from U.S. lawmakers of both parties and previous administrations.
As perhaps a telling sign of some critics’ doubts, Blinken was scheduled to make this trip in August, but it was canceled as Afghanistan’s collapse and the massive U.S. evacuation operations consumed he and his team’s attention.
(NEW YORK) — It’s perfectly acceptable for 5- to-11-year-olds preparing to receive a vaccine against COVID-19 also to receive other protective shots they may have missing during the pandemic lockdown.
For some children, that could mean five or six shots in a single visit, but it’s safe to do so, doctors told ABC News.
“You can’t overwhelm the immune system with these vaccines,” said Dr. Margaret Fisher, a pediatric infectious disease specialist in New Jersey and chair of the AAP Global Immunization Advocacy Project.
Autumn is often less hectic at pediatricians’ offices, which is serendipitous for parents looking to schedule COVID-19 vaccine appointments.
“We’re kind of in a sweet spot,” said Dr. Natasha Burgert, a pediatric specialist in Kansas, with most children flooding doctors offices for back-to-school checkups over the summer.
Routine childhood vaccinations — jabs that help stave off devastating illnesses such as polio, measles, diphtheria and pertussis — are carefully laid out in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, and all states require these vaccines for children attending public school.
While most kids are up to date on routine vaccines, according to Burgert, a significant number missed appointments over the summer. In August, the nonprofit group Health Efficient estimated that community health centers would need to increase the number of childhood vaccinations by 265% to match pre-pandemic levels — and maintain that pace for at least six months.
“If kids need routine shots, either we are giving them at the same time, or we are prioritizing the COVID shot right now,” Burgert added. “This is still a global emergency.”
Pediatricians of children who need to get back on a regular vaccination schedule should consult the CDC schedule for vaccine catch-ups, even if that means some kids will be getting their shots slightly later than would be ideal, said Dr. Alok Patel, a pediatric hospitalist at Stanford Children’s Health.
“I also have parents that prefer to space them out,” said Burgert, especially kids historically more reactive to the flu shot. “Parents are a little bit more hesitant to do both at the same time, just because they don’t want them to feel bad. And I understand that.”
Patel said he hears similar concerns: “A lot of parents say, ‘Hey, this is too many shots for my child to handle.'” But spacing out the vaccines, Patel added, is not without risk.
“The problem with spacing out the vaccines is you leave your child at risk to get the diseases while you’re spacing them out,” said Fisher, the pediatric infectious disease expert. “There’s no advantage. There’s no evidence that giving them at the same time increases the adverse events. And the disadvantage is you leave your child susceptible.”
According to Patel, parents should focus most on “getting their children the right protection, and getting them fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as possible, but also making sure that they’re getting complete protection against the other major vaccine-preventable illnesses.”
Pediatricians are urging eligible patients to seek out COVID-19 vaccines as soon as possible — and to stay up to date on other routine vaccines.
“The last thing we want to do,” Patel told ABC News, “is see a resurgence of these preventable diseases because of lapses in coverage.”
Burgert also noted how children are eager to do their part.
“These kids have been living all of this stress with us,” Burgert said. “They have been living through it, and they want it to be over too. They want it to be over for their friends, and they want it to be over for their parents.”
Lauren Joseph, a student at Stanford Medical School, is a contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit. Dr. Tushar Garg and Dr. Jay Bhatt contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The question of whether President Joe Biden and other Catholic politicians who publicly support abortion rights should receive Holy Communion is at the center of a controversial draft document the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is expected to vote on Wednesday.
The vote is the culmination of year-long debate between America’s largely conservative bishops and the Vatican about whether punitive measures should be taken against public officials who contradict the church’s teaching on abortion.
Biden, only the nation’s second Catholic president, who has said his “personal” views were a “private matter,” has openly professed his faith throughout his political career — diligently attending Sunday Mass, infusing speeches with scripture and wearing his late son Beau Biden’s rosary beads.
After his meeting last month with Pope Francis before the G-20 summit, and amid criticism from conservative bishops, Biden said that the pope told him that he should continue receiving Communion and said the pope called him a “good Catholic.”
Some bishops, however, see things differently, citing Biden’s vocal public support of abortion rights as a key reason why clarification on who can receive Communion is necessary.
Prominent Catholic politicians, including Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have typically been careful about where they attend Mass so as to avoid controversy.
While Cardinal Wilton Gregory of the Archdiocese of Washington has said that he doesn’t plan to deny Biden Communion, he has publicly questioned whether the president is living up to Catholic Church teachings on controversial issues, including abortion.
“The Catholic Church teaches, and has taught, that life — human life — begins at conception,” Gregory told journalists at the National Press Club in September. “So, the president is not demonstrating Catholic teaching.”
While the document is expected to make no mention Biden or other pro-abortion rights Catholic politicians by name, its intent is to issue a stern rebuke of individuals, especially of public officials, who present themselves for Communion after breaking with church teaching on fundamental issues.
In a leaked draft of the document before the conference, the bishops write “there are some sins, however that do rupture the communion we share with God and the Church.”
“As the Church has consistently taught, a person who receives Holy Communion while in a state of mortal sin not only does not receive the grace of the sacrament, he or she commits the sin of sacrilege by failing to show the reverence due to the Body and Blood of Christ,” the document said.
An official at the bishop’s conference insisted that they are staying true to their mission of defending church teachings, pointing to the conference’s outspoken disagreement with the Trump administration’s policies regarding undocumented migrants.
According to a Pew Research Center survey, many American Catholics are divided about whether Biden should be denied Communion over his support of abortion rights.
A majority of U.S. Catholic adults say Biden should be allowed to receive Communion during Mass, while nearly 30% say Biden should not be allowed to receive Communion.
The divide underscores a growing tension amongst American Catholics about who they see as the true authority on matters of faith and what they should believe.
“The U.S. bishops, and Pope Francis see things in very different ways,” said Massimo Faggioli, a theology professor at Villanova University. “American Catholics for the first time in many decades have to decide if they want to follow Pope Francis or U.S. bishops, which is new, because U.S. bishops are traditionally very Roman, loyal to the pope.”
(WASHINGTON) — After a 34-day protest garnered local and national attention, Howard University said it has reached an agreement with its students, who demanded better living conditions in on-campus dormitories.
On Oct. 12, Howard students began occupying the Blackburn center, a student hub and cafeteria located in the central yard of the campus, transforming the area into a “tent city.”
The protests continued until Monday, Dr. Wayne Frederick, president of Howard University, said, and would come to be known as #BlackburnTakeover across social media platforms.
Several students told ABC News that they faced a host of health concerns, including mold, infestations, and flooding in some college dorms. In October, Howard University officials listed 34 reports of concerns related to discoloration, or suspected fungal growth, across more than 5,050 beds — 0.67% of all on-campus beds.
The problems were allegedly so bad that many students preferred to sleep outside, in tents and sleeping bags, rather than in the university’s dorms. That is how the “tent city” protests began.
Students take action
“About one month ago, student protesters initiated their occupation of Blackburn. Today, they agreed to leave,” Frederick said in a statement Monday, adding that he also expected non-student protesters to depart the surrounding area and end their occupation of the campus.
The agreement came after days of negotiations and various threats of legal action from the students.
“I was shocked that they were willing to have a conversation, because it took them a long time to even say anything to us about the protest,” said Lamiya Murray, an 18-year-old freshman and the main organizer of the demonstration.
“The students have achieved the objectives and something meaningful. What they got by their personal sacrifice was sunlight put onto Howard in a way that a private academy normally wouldn’t receive,” Donald Temple, the students’ attorney, told ABC News. “Howard is private, and so is Howard’s policy and procedures, but the accountability from students, faculty and alumni are bigger.”
Temple, a Howard alumnus, said he’s represented Howard University student protestors for years, including during a 1989 protest in which they were advocating for similar demands.
“This double standard exists within these HBCUs, and students are attending these colleges which are underfunded when all these kids are saying they want competitive education and proper conditions,” Temple added.
Demonstrators such as Murray and Deja Redding, a Howard University graduate student and director of The Live Movement, a campus-based organization focused on advocating for racial equity in education, said they faced verbal threats from University administrators due to their involvement in the movement. They were even told they could face expulsion.
Murray, who spent nearly 33 nights in a tent outside the center, said she was worried about the wellbeing of the students and fearful of what the outcome of the protests would be.
“I ended up having to talk myself into doing a lot of stuff anywhere from sleeping outside to using the bathroom and Porta Potty,” Murray told ABC News. “Am I willing to sit here in the cold for these demands? I had to talk myself into it most nights, and I just realized that what I’m doing is bigger than just me, bigger than Howard, bigger than an HBCU; it’s revolutionary.”
In their protests, students demanded an in-person town hall with Howard’s president and other officials, the permanent reinstatement of student, alumni and faculty affiliate positions that are being removed from the school’s board of trustees, a meeting with university leaders about housing and legal, disciplinary and academic immunity for protesters. Student organizers also want to weigh in on Howard’s new housing plan.
“As we close in on the Thanksgiving holiday, I am encouraged and excited about the work we have accomplished — and the work we will continue to do — together to reinforce Howard University,” Frederick said in his statement Monday. “I look forward to sharing details soon on our ideas that will address concerns and build a culture where all are heard.”
He added that Howard plans to make improvements throughout the campus, and is committed to maintaining “safe and high-end housing.”
Even though they reached an agreement with the university on Monday, students said the school did not agree to all their requests, specifically the re-election of the student and alumni on the board of trustees.
Murray and Redding said they plan to take legal action.
Protest goes viral
Howard, known to some as “The Mecca,” is one of the most notable Historically Black Colleges. The students’ outcry sparked attention from high-profile Howard alumni including Yandy Smith, Rev. Jesse Jackson and Debbie Allen.
“The leadership saw these students as renegades who did not represent the larger student body, even though their issues affected thousands of kids,” Temple said. “They weren’t by themselves. The alumni and the nation were right behind their shadows.”
Because Howard provides priority housing for freshman and sophomores, the alumni network plays a prominent role in providing additional housing resources to Howard’s juniors, seniors and graduate students.
“Some of the behind-the-scenes things that people don’t know or see is that alumni activated a platform to house a lot of these students who are unable to live in their dorms or just weren’t able to get housing,” Redding said.
Now, Howard students hope their successful movement inspires others at HBCUs in need of improvements to speak up.
“These students should be able to hold their administration accountable. Plenty of other HBCUs have reached out with the intention to go ahead and start moving towards holding a demonstration on their campus, maybe not to the magnitude of Howard’s, but they’re looking to have a demonstration of some sort on their own needs that they have,” Redding said.
Howard’s student organizers told ABC News, they’re expected to hold a town hall with the University on March 1, 2022, as part of the agreement.
They are also calling for Frederick’s resignation.
ABC News’ Adia Robinson contributed to this report.
(WARNER ROBINS, Ga.) — A search for five “violent” inmates who were at large days after escaping from a Georgia jail has ended, authorities said.
The Warner Robins Police Department announced via Twitter that its officers along with a fugitive task force from the United States Marshals Service had captured the fifth and final escapee on Tuesday night.
Tyree Montan Jackson, 27; Dennis Penix Jr., 28; Brandon Pooler, 24; Lewis Wendell Evans III, 22; and Tyree Williams Jr., 33, all fled the Pulaski County Jail in Hawkinsville, about 130 miles south of Atlanta, on the night of Nov. 12, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
All five inmates have “violent criminal histories,” including two who are charged with murder, the GBI said. They had two Tasers when they escaped and were seen traveling in a stolen white van, according to the GBI.
One of the escapees, Jackson, was captured Sunday. A second inmate, Evans, was taken into custody late Sunday night in Warner Robins, about 100 miles south of Atlanta, the GBI said.
As the search continued for the three other inmates, the U.S. Marshals Service offered a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to any arrests.
While the last remaining escapee was taken into custody Tuesday night in Warner Robins, it was unclear where and when the other two were captured.
(WASHINGTON) — With winter closing in and coronavirus case rates creeping up once again, White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci is warning that the vaccines’ waning immunity combined with the highly transmissible delta variant will make for a “double whammy” that will impact “even the vaccinated people.”
“The somewhat unnerving aspect of it is that if you keep the level of dynamics of the virus in the community at a high level — obviously the people who are most most vulnerable are the unvaccinated — but when you have a virus as transmissible as delta, in the context of waning immunity, that dynamic is going to negatively impact even the vaccinated people. So it’s a double whammy,” Fauci said in a pretaped interview aired at the 2021 STAT Summit Tuesday afternoon.
“You’re going to see breakthrough infections, even more so than we see now among the vaccinated,” he added.
His grim prediction meets a chorus of alarm bells already being sounded about COVID’s renewed spread as more people head inside as the holidays approach, heralding a season of family gatherings.
The national reported average for new cases each day has surged to more than 80,000, according to federal data — the highest in nearly a month. Forty states are currently showing high transmission, and total hospitalizations have increased for the first time in nearly 10 weeks.
Combatting any impending viral onslaught this winter hinges on how many more sleeves roll up for more shots, Fauci said. It won’t only be important to persuade the roughly 60 million “recalcitrant” people who have yet to get their first dose, but also “how well we implement a booster program,” he said.
Fauci added that booster doses of the COVID vaccine may become the standard for a “full” vaccination.
It comes as a growing roster of states and local jurisdictions have pushed ahead of federal regulators’ timeline, electing to endorse the expansion of booster shots to all adults at least six months after their second Pfizer or Moderna shot.
Though Pfizer formally asked the Food and Drug Administration to expand their booster’s authorization last week, right now federal agencies only recommend the mRNA booster for people over the age of 65, have an underlying medical condition or are at high risk for exposure, at least six months after their second dose.
All Johnson & Johnson recipients over the age of 18, however, are eligible for a boost at least two months after receiving their first dose.
“I happen to believe as an immunologist and infectious disease person, that a third shot boost for an mRNA is likely — should be part of the actual standard regimen, where a booster isn’t a luxury; a booster isn’t an add on; and a booster is part of what the original regimen should be — so that when we look back on this, we’re going to see that boosters are essential for an optimal vaccine regimen,” Fauci said.
ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — White House officials insisted Tuesday that President Joe Biden does not consider China’s President Xi Jinping a “friend” after Xi, speaking through an interpreter in a virtual meeting with Biden Monday night, referred to his American counterpart as “my old friend.”
“Thank you,” Biden responded at the time.
Asked what Xi was getting at — and if Xi was trying to undermine the U.S. — White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates didn’t answer directly, but reiterated that Biden doesn’t see Xi as an “old friend.”
“I’m not going to speak for President Xi,” Bates told a reporter on Air Force One as Biden headed to New Hampshire.
“But like you just mentioned,” Bates continued, “you’ve heard explicitly from the president himself, that he has a longstanding relationship with President Xi. They’ve spent a great deal of time together. They are able to have candid discussions, be direct with each other, which helps them be productive. But he does not consider President Xi an old friend.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Monday said the same ahead of the leaders’ meeting when asked how Biden views the relationship.
“He still does not consider him an ‘old friend,’ so that remains consistent,” she said.
“President Xi is somebody he has spent time with, he’s had face-to-face conversations with. And because of that, the president feels that he’s able to have candid discussions with President Xi,” she added.
Biden on Tuesday in New Hampshire called it a “good meeting” with “a lot to follow up on.”
“We set up four groups, and we’re gonna get our folks together on a whole range of issues. I’ll have more to report for you in the next two weeks,” he told reporters.
Biden has often spoken of his long-term relationship with Xi and the time they spent together in person when they were both served as vice presidents.
But this June, Biden made clear he didn’t think of Xi as an “old friend,” saying in response to a question at a news conference in Geneva: “Let’s get something straight. We know each other well; we’re not old friends. It’s just pure business.”
Experts have tried to interpret Xi’s use of the phrase — whether it was genuine goodwill or meant to gain control of the narrative over Biden.
Wang Huiyao, president of the Center for China and Globalization, told Reuters Xi’s use of the phrase is a show of genuine goodwill, while Shi Yinhong, professor of international relations at Renmin University of China, told the news outlet “an ‘old friend’ doesn’t necessarily mean he is still a real friend.”
The two world leaders spoke for about three and a half hours via videoconference on Monday evening, amid continued tensions between Washington and Beijing over trade issues, climate change and human rights and in the wake of China recently upping its military pressure on Taiwan.
In a readout of the call, the Chinese government blamed the Tsai government for increased tensions between the U.S. and China for Taiwan’s attempt to “rely on the United States for independence” with Xi likening independence talk to “playing with fire” — in an apparent warning to both nations.
Xi said that Beijing is patient over reunification with Taiwan but independence is a red line they will take “decisive measures” on.
Biden, asked Tuesday in New Hampshire if the leaders made “progress on Taiwan,” said they had.
“Yes,” Biden answered. “We have made very clear, we support the Taiwan Act, and that’s it. It’s independent, makes its own decisions.”
The fact that he called Taiwan “independent” was certain to upset China and Biden spoke a second time to reporters traveling with him in New Hampshire to clarify his earlier comments.
“We’re not going to change our policy at all,” he said, referring to U.S. policy on Taiwan.
Asked about his remark about “independence,” he replied: “No, no, I said that they have to decide – they, Taiwan, not us,” adding, “And we are not encouraging independence. We’re encouraging that they do exactly what the Taiwan Act requires. That’s what we’re doing. Let them make up their mind. Period.”
Taiwan’s Cabinet-level Mainland Affairs Council issued a statement after the Biden-Xi meeting, saying it “insists that China has no say in the fate of Taiwan.”
While the meeting did not establish any specific new guardrails over Taiwan, the White House said the meeting itself was intended to allow the two leaders discussing ways to manage competition between one another and characterized the conversations as “respectful and straightforward and open.”
“The sense of US-China relationship having up and downs is the old model of how to think about the relationship between the US and China. We sort of think of this as a steady state,” a readout from the White House said. “The President has been quite clear that he will engage in that stiff competition.”
Xi, on the call, compared China and the U.S. to two giant ships sailing in the sea that must stabilize to move forward together and prevent a collision, according to a readout of the meeting from the Chinese government.
Psaki said Friday that Biden may have the chance to talk more about the phone call on Thursday when he hosts leaders of Canada and Mexico for a North American summit at the White House.
Monday’s meeting marked the third time the two leaders will have spoken since Biden took office.
