the power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. and that's a good thing? great in my book! who are you? no power? no problem. introducing storm-ready wifi. now you can stay reliably connected through power outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up to keep you online. only from xfinity. home of the xfinity 10g network. >> good evening, in just a few moments, now president biden is expected to talk and take questions from reporters about his summit meeting this afternoon with china's president xi jinping. the schedule for the press conference has shifted throughout the evening but it is now expected to begin very shortly and the two leaders spoke for about four hours today, at a mansion just outside of san francisco. in conjunction with apec. the asia pacific economic cooperation forum being held in that city. senior american officials saying the two leaders agreed to take steps to curb fentanyl production and restore communications between their two respective military's. president xi, for his, part saying afterwards, quote, planet earth is big enough for the two countries to succeed. adding that one country turning its back on the other is not an option. cnn's m.j. lee is at the summit location for us, cnn's david culver is in san francisco, he reported from china in three years, during the pandemic -- also cnn contributor and biden biographer evan osmosis, former israeli ambassador -- cnn correspondent dana bash. mj, what is the white house saying about how the summit went? >> well, you know, anderson, as we await president biden to come out any moment now for this solo press conference, i think it is abundantly clear that's when he comes out he is going to herald this summit as having been a success. it is clear that he is going to point to a few of the deliverables that the administration had laid out leading into the summit. namely, the reestablishment of the military to military communications between the two countries. and then this significant announcement on cracking down on fentanyl. but i think in the bigger picture, the president is likely to say that he has achieved sort of the overarching goal of hitting a reset on u.s. china relations. both leaders only heard them speaking at the top of the summit making very clear that they agree that these are two countries with serious conflicts and areas of disagreement, that what they do agree on is that a two countries must be able to have diplomacy, there must be communication between the two countries. so that they can avoid any misunderstandings. and really dangerous situations where crises might erupt. so i think that we are expected to hear president biden talking about this in terms of sort of the success coming out of this. that is not to say that these conversations did not touch on tough issues, areas of disagreement, but again, i think it is abundantly clear that in terms of the big picture goal of hitting a reset on u.s. china relations, president biden and everyone on down, we are expected to hear say that that goal was achieved. and that there is going to be more conversations, but this is just the beginning of more conversations and more diplomacy in the months to come. >> david, how is the chinese media describing this? because china and its media have been railing against the u.s. for years? i mean, this does seem to be all of a huge shift? >> it was a major shift, anderson. today, i had to go through some of the chinese state media articles, multiple times, just to make sure i was reading it right. because certainly in the years i was living there, 2019 up until last year through the height of the pandemic, it was nothing positive towards the u.s., and what we have seen in the past 24 hours as almost a growing blowing u.s. pro -- and even though those reading that within china where a bit confused. in fact, commenting on social, media noticing the tone shift and how dramatic it was within their own country. but taking all of that aside, i am really curious to see how they are going to portray it in the days to come. because that will indicate where the chinese communist party is, perhaps, trying to lead the narrative to go from here. and you hear the from u.s. officials, and perhaps a fresh start. i don't want to come across as pessimistic on this, but deliverables have to come into action. and china has agreed to things in the past, and they can take steps towards something like cracking down on fentanyl, or perh beten the two countries militaries, which sounds great. and they're certainly using all the right words and some of these chinese state media -- we note that are coming outreach now. you have to see the action follow it. three times the size of new york city. i was living in the midst of that. so when they want to do something, they can. and they can do it quickly, it's very different from the u. s. where there is a lot more bureaucracy, you have to get a public comment, and the chinese way of doing things, if the party decides to go a certain direction, if xi jinping wants to do something specifically it will happen, anderson. >> in terms of fentanyl, i mean, you know from reporting on the fentanyl pipeline from china, in terms of what china could actually do, how significant could it be? >> so, when we think about fentanyl coming into the u.s., the direct link is mexico at the southern border. you and i have talked about this in recent months, and that is a huge concern, we spent some time in sinaloa with the mexican army as they were trying to bust some of the labs, interestingly enough after we did that report, mexico's president said that they don't make fentanyl in mexico. and then reached out to president xi asking for help when it comes to the ingredients to make fentanyl, what is known as the precursor. that is the source of it all. and that is within china, and it is really easily acceptable, our investigation -- showed how you can just log on to wechat, communicate with some of those folks representing some of the precursor productions, and you can place an order and have it shipped anywhere in the world that you want. it must be going to mexico. and even some of those folks who are working for this production, family it will provide a how to guide and making fentanyl. so this is going to take this on chinese government doing a serious crackdown. again, anderson, if they want to do it, they can do that. >> dana, in terms of, it looks like we have some activity, we saw secretary antony blinken getting seated. so it looks like the president is very close. and terms of president biden taking reporters questions tonight, the stakes are very high for him, not just on china but the middle east, his reelection. >> all of it! this is very rare. and when i say this, just having a press conference. so it is going to be an opportunity for the reporters like mj and others who cover him on a regular basis to ask him, of course, about china, and about what we are hearing from david and mj. but a lot of questions about the u.s. policy and stance towards the middle east. and also, as you mentioned, the very [inaudible] place he seems to be, according to every single poll. not just national polls. but key battleground states where he is, vis-à-vis the presumptive front-runner on the republican side. and that is donald trump. so a lot of opportunity, hopefully, for many reporters to get questions. because it is so rare that that happens with this president. >> evan, i want to talk to you about the shift in tone by china towards the u.s.. you recently wrote a really fascinating piece for the new yorker, titled china's age of malice. -- malaise. is, that i mean, what is driving china to do this? >> yeah, that is a key piece of the puzzle. in some ways xi jinping was coming into this summit, you know, in a much weaker position that he was a year or so ago. there was a time when it felt as if he was riding high, he had just installed all of his loyalists into senior ranks of the government. but now, of course, the chinese economy is struggling, as many people know. but also more broadly, and this is one of the things i sensed on the ground when i was a recently, there is really a sense of frustration, one of the words people using chinese is that they feel disheartened, it is a big deal. and that is a big change from where it was when he came into office a decade ago. and i think that that puts him a little off balance, he came into the room today, you heard him making very clear indications that he wanted this summit to be a success. david, a moment ago was describing how the positive message in the chinese media, it's not by accident, the message has already come down before they even met. they wanted this to be a success as much as the americans did. >> and yet, there's a lot of issues that are extraordinarily difficult for the u.s. and china to agree on. >> yeah. that's really -- the short term fact is that they came out of here with a productive, successful, civil meeting. the long term fact is that they are still arrayed across a whole range of issues on very opposite terms. i'll give you one fascinating detail from the opening remarks today. xi jinping, when he was just framing the meeting, he says that he does not share the view that these two countries are in a competition, which is, after all, at the core of how the united states sees it. but the chinese would rather not have a competition. they would rather the united states, frankly, move out of the way, take on a smaller role in the middle east, in ukraine, in taiwan. and that is a core disagreement between these two. and that's not going away. that's what you need now. the infrastructure of things like military to military communications to try to manage on a day-to-day basis. >> mj, dana was talking about how rare it is to have a press conference with president biden. how long has it been, and how long is this expected to be? do we know? >> yeah. this is just the third solo press conference that the president is taking part in this year. it's certainly rare for reporters covering him regularly to get this kind of open and formal opportunity to ask him questions. one thing that i just wanted to note, just jumping in on what evan was noting before, just based on our reporting, i think it is clear that u.s. officials would sort of carefully and privately say that the dynamics at play for president xi back at home, domestically, probably had a lot to do with the interactions that we saw playing out tonight between the two leaders. of course, u.s. officials are very attuned to the fact that there are serious economic problems that president xi is facing at home, and our reporting is that in the months of planning that went into the summit, that there was a level of anxiety and a level of concern about how this would look for a president xi as he was visiting the u.s. for just a couple of days. you know, this is not unusual, of course. we are talking about a foreign trip for the leader of china. but u.s. officials involved in the planning of this summit saying that that level of concern and the attention to detail, down to where he would sit, what he would see when he looked at the window, that it really was sort of unprecedented. so again, i think that u.s. officials might argue that the dynamics that are at play for president xi back at home had very much to do with the sort of decision to engage u.s. officials in this way right now. and that maybe u.s. officials sort of took advantage of the opportunity here when that was available to them, taking into account the fact that they can make the case to their chinese counterparts when, if you did x, y and z, it could be to your benefit, particularly on the economic front, anderson. >> david, what is the benefit to china of if there is going to be a shift in tone, a shift in relations? >> yeah. and if they're gonna take any action, you can bet they're gonna want something in exchange. that's gonna have to be something that the u.s. goes forward with. and as evan pointed out, it's a struggling economy. it is a really tough situation right now. youth unemployment at an all-time high. you've got a housing market there that's in crisis. so what president xi is trying to do in many ways is trying to figure out how he can boost his economy, perhaps relying on american companies, and perhaps even wooing them to go back. many, i can tell, you left not only during the pandemic, but in the months after, because of beijing's crackdown on corporations. the government was -- going after and writing offices of american companies in shanghai. so now, you have, just a couple hours from now, president xi open -- hosting a welcome xi dinner, and it's being put on by u.s. based organizations that focus on u.s. china relations, and in part focused on bettering business relations. this is a dinner in which president xi is hoping to rub elbows with some of these folks, and convince them to bring back to china if they've left, or expand reach within china. the issue that these businesses have is, can we trust you, president xi? can we trust that the government isn't gonna go forward with another crack down? can we trust that we're gonna get any profit we make in china out of china? these are complicated situations that i think folks will be hesitant, certainly within the business world, for many years they saw a lot of money coming out of china, and saw it as a really opportunistic place to be doing business. now, they're not so sure. so that dinner, by the way, it's gonna be happening tonight, anderson, it's really controversial. u.s. lawmakers are weighing in on this. you have the chairman of the house select committee that this is an unconscionable that dinner because of the price that it will cost for those who want to pay to attend. and that's $40,000 -- one seat at the table with president xi. they're looking into this, they want names. >> ccp is the chinese communist party. when president biden spoke in tel aviv, at the u. n. i. spoke that day, you were very effusive about his support for israel. have you, do you see any shift in the administration's stance? obviously the administration is under pressure from different quarters -- >> yes i think it's good to be with you, anderson. and they've shifted a bit on the humanitarian pauses, humanitarian corridors. the israeli government has now tried to meet the president halfway on those measures, understanding that the president is under that type of pressure. but on the crucial, crucial issue of the cease-fire, the president and his administration have not wavered a bit, they understand that the cease-fire means hamas wins, hamas gets away with mass murder. and they realize that a cease fire for israel it's something close to death. i, mean we will not be able to restore internal security or restore our regional deterrence. iran will internalize that they can get us with impunity, and the international community will impose a cease-fire. so i don't know how israel becomes the, you know, remains habitable after that point. so there the president, secretary of state have really stood steadfast, john kirby getting up every night for the press, the white house press court and saying that we are against a cease-fire. and i think that it's now also a bipartisan support, as we saw in the mass rally yesterday in washington. >> dana bash, i mean, mj was saying that this is the only the third press conference that he has been involved with, i think she said this year. it is, it's a small amount. obviously, there is a lot of questions about his stamina, his abilities and there's going to be a lot of people watching this to look at that, and to see how he answers questions? >> yes. no question, whenever president biden is asked about those issues, something that there is nothing you can do, about which is his age. his answer is watch me. and this is an opportunity for the american people, people around the, world to actually do just that. to watch him. much more importantly, to really [inaudible] on the very, very big issue before him in his presidency in this country, internationally like you just talked about with ambassador oren. i mean, certainly he has been very steadfast when it comes to israel. [inaudible] with xi jinping. but also, a lot of eyes on him, less than a year away from his reelection. a lot of questions about domestic issues, unclear if he's going to get those questions about the economy, about the economy doing better, even this week we saw numbers where the they matter the most to people. the price of, eggs the price of other goods. they are better, the inflation numbers are going down. so why don't people credit him with that? those are the messages that if he does give a lengthy press conference, those reporters will be able to talk to him about that. not just international, not just the raw political, but some of the policies that he is hoping he can get reelected on. and he has been trying to do it more and more, a chance to make his case. but again, get some probing questions from those who cover him every day. >> yes, in terms of what the u.s. can do for china, or china would be looking specifically from to the u.s. for, what do you think is top of the list? >> well, we know what china wants, i think, you know, it's not, it's a meaningful fact that xi jinping has left this meeting and gone directly to that banquet with business leaders. you know, a big reason for this whole visit was that she xi jinping wanted to essentially go out into the world and signal to the global business community to investors who have gotten very nervous about china, that he gets it. that he is, in a sense, but he recognizes that he needs to show that he is paying attention to the economic troubles at home. and that he is not pursuing a conflict with the united states. which, after, all would be a disaster for the world. and for the world economy. so, on some level, his presence here is a sign that he is willing to acknowledge the scale of concern. but i think in terms of specifics, look what he would really like this for the united states to say that we are not going to impose further restrictions on high technology exports to china. that would go into advanced chip semiconductors, a. i.. he is not going to get. that the united states is, at this point, not backing off from that strategy. that is a major piece of how biden imagines the future of this relationship. and so they have to come sort of accommodation. >> obviously, the issue of taiwan's a big, big disagreement point between u. s. and china? >> it is, in some ways it is the core point of contention. in some, ways actually, what this meeting was about was not changing their position, it was about underscoring how emphatic the united states is about two big things. one, it is not actually supporting independence for taiwan. it supports the status quo, the self governing status that taiwan has right now. also indicating that the united states is not backing off to fainting taiwan in the event of an attack. it is a really precise balance between -- one of the key reasons why they wanted to have this meeting. there's a real fear in beijing, i heard of when i was there, you heard from chinese visitors, and they think the united states is moving towards supporting independence in taiwan. if it happened, it would be, from china's perspective, a five alarm fire. and joe biden wanted to send a very clear message that, no, our position has not changed. we will defend taiwan, and we wanted to stay in the safe status that it enjoys right now. >> david culver, as we await for president biden to make remarks, and take questions. in terms of the precursor chemicals involved, the precursor ingredients for fentanyl, is there a, i mean, for some of those chemicals, is there legitimate reasons for them to be manuf