US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping have confirmed the significance of maintaining bilateral dialogue, ahead of the return of US President-elect Donald Trump to the White House early next year.

Biden and Xi talked for about one and a half hours on Saturday in Lima, the capital of Peru, on the sidelines of the APEC summit. It was their first summit meeting in about a year and is likely to be their last, as Biden will be replaced by Trump in January.

In the beginning, Xi said China is ready to work with the US to "maintain dialogue, expand cooperation and manage differences so as to strive for a steady transition of the China-US relationship to the benefit of the two peoples."

Biden responded that conversations between the two sides "prevent miscalculations, and they ensure the competition between our two countries will not veer into conflict."

According to a White House official, both sides welcomed last year's resumption of high-level military-to-military communications.

Biden reportedly urged an end to what he called China's destabilizing military activity around Taiwan.

China's Foreign Ministry said Xi emphasized the need for the US to handle the Taiwan question with extreme prudence and to unequivocally oppose Taiwan's independence and support China's peaceful unification.

The ministry said Xi told Biden that "The Taiwan question, democracy and human rights, China's path and system, and China's development right are four red lines for China," and must not be challenged.

The ministry said Xi also explained China's positions on a number of regional issues.

Xi reportedly pledged efforts to stabilize the situation in Ukraine. Xi was quoted as saying: "China does not allow conflict and turmoil to happen on the Korean Peninsula. It will not sit idly by when its strategic security and core interests are under threat."

US President-elect Donald Trump is poised to impose heavy tariffs on Chinese products in a move that could further escalate their rivalry. At issue is whether the two global powers can maintain dialogue and work together to resolve problems.