President Biden came out of his four-hour meeting with China’s President Xi on the sidelines of Apec, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation gathering in San Francisco, sure of one thing about Mr. Xi: “He’s a dictator.” That is, Mr. Biden quickly added, “in the sense that he’s a guy who runs a country that is a communist country that is based on a form of government totally different from ours.” 

The New York Post is reporting that when the president said that, Secretary Blinken visibly winced. In any event, those words, spoken in answer to a question tossed at him after the post-summit press conference was over, were about the most definitive remark the president could offer on four hours of back-and-forth with Mr. Xi after which he bobbed and weaved on the most substantive issues under discussion.

Where the Washington-Beijing relationship is going was unstated but implicit — nowhere fast, maybe nowhere at all. The only topics on which Mr. Biden and  the Chinese party boss appeared to have come to some understanding was on the export of fentanyl — and the chemicals that make it — to America from China and on contact between American and Chinese commanders in case of a near-encounter in the air or at sea.

As of today, “we’re taking action to significantly reduce the flow of precursor chemicals and pill presses from China to the Western Hemisphere,” he said, with Mr. Xi’s agreement on tasking teams “to maintain a policy and law enforcement coordination.”

 Also, “critically important,” Mr. Biden said, “we are reassuming military-to-military contact — direct contacts” after incidents in which the Chinese simply didn’t respond to American commanders wanting to talk about close calls at sea or in the air. Now, he said, “We’re back to direct, open, clear, direct communications” as needed to prevent “vital miscalculations on either side.”  

 Beyond what he called “tangible steps in the right direction ,” Mr. Biden was at his vaguest best. He could offer no guarantee that Mr. Xi would keep his word on his assurances about curbing the flow of fentanyl but was certain, if either of them had “any concern about anything,” then “we should pick up the phone and then call one another, and we’ll take the call.” 

Therein, Mr. Biden averred, was “progress.”

Asked about the dangers of American and Chinese forces coming to blows, Mr. Biden credited himself with having gotten together the Quad,  a non-military grouping that includes India, Japan, Australia and America. He added that the Americans were  “moving in the direction of working with the Philippines” — reviving the longstanding alliance to challenge China’s claims to the entire South China Sea. 

On the war in Gaza, Mr. Biden played it both ways on the entry of Israeli troops into the Al-Shifa Hospital. “The first war crime is being committed by Hamas by having their headquarters, their military hidden under a hospital,” he said. 

“The idea that they’re going to just stop and not do anything is not realistic,” the president added. “This is not carpet bombing.”

Seeming to support the Israeli Defense Forces to the hilt, Mr. Biden nonetheless stuck to his view that “the only ultimate answer here is a two-state solution that’s real” — presumably with a Palestinian regime firmly ensconced in Gaza as well as the West Bank.

Professing to be “mildly hopeful,” he offered no long-range solution but cautioned Prime Minister Netanyahu — to whom he referred by the familiar “Bibi” — against fantasies of more or less ruling Gaza. Rather, he said, “I made it clear to the Israelis I think it’s a big mistake for them to think they’re going to occupy Gaza and maintain Gaza — I don’t think that works.”

Mr. Biden was still more vague on what to do about hostages captured in the invasion of October 7 on southern Israel. Yes, he was “doing everything in my power” to help them. No, “I don’t mean sending the U.S. military in to get them.” 

Rather, “Five to six times a day, I’m working on how I can be helpful in getting the hostages released and have a period of time where there’s a pause long enough to let that happen.”

Could he at least provide evidence of a Hamas command center under the hospital?  “No, I can’t tell you,” was his definitive response. “I won’t tell you.” 

On other topics, Mr. Biden as much as possible avoided saying much of anything. 

 On Taiwan, for instance, he acknowledged he had said “what every president of late has said” — that “we maintain an agreement there is a One China policy” and “that’s about the extent to which we discussed it.” 

As for climate change, a major topic among the business leaders attending Apec, not a word was spoken, at least by Mr. Biden or the journalists asking the questions — no telling yet if the topic came up in his four hours with Mr. Xi.