In preparation for the COP27 convention, President Xi Jin Ping and President Joe Biden met in Bali. This was the first time that two world leaders have sat down in person to meet since Joe Biden was elected as president. Before the meeting began, tensions between the two countries were at an all time high. Orville Schell, former professor of journalism at UC Berkeley, explained that because Biden had met Xi before, Biden was one of the better equipped American politicians to diminish tensions between the countries.