Bill Bishop of Sinocism with the note:
The expectations for the Biden-Xi video chat were low and they were met. The fact that they are talking is positive, and it sounds like the September call between the leaders created conditions with the PRC system for lower-level officials to start engaging more constructively on some issues. This latest meeting is likely to do the same.
There have been working-level discussions, mostly run out of the US embassy I hear, and I believe one of the outcomes from this latest meeting is more structured discussions on specific topics, though nothing like the “strategic” dialogues of the earlier Era. This morning National Security Adviser Sullivan mentioned in a talk to the Brookings Institution that the two sides would “look to begin to carry forward discussions on strategic stability”, though he said they would not be like the structured, mature US-Russia talks on that topic.
