President Joe Biden will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping face-to-face for the first time in a year on Wednesday, the White House said, in high-stakes diplomacy aimed at curbing tensions between the world’s two superpowers, Reuters reported.
The closely watched interaction, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in the San Francisco Bay area, could last hours and involve teams of officials from Beijing and Washington.
It is expected to cover global issues from the Israel-Hamas conflict to Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, North Korea’s ties with Russia, Taiwan, the Indo-Pacific, human rights, fentanyl, artificial intelligence, as well as “fair” trade and economic relations, senior Biden administration officials said.
The White House confirmed the day of the meeting in a statement on Friday. The Chinese foreign ministry said on Friday that Xi would visit the United States Nov. 14-17, attend the APEC summit and meet with Biden.
Biden and Xi will speak across oceans of ideological difference for the first time since November 2022.
A main result is expected to be greater diplomacy – promises to talk more on key issues, including climate, global health, economic stability, counter-narcotic efforts, and potentially the resumption of some military-to-military channels after a high-level freeze.
Both sides may make modest gestures of goodwill to ease talks, according to two other people briefed on the discussions.
But deep progress will be hard. Both countries increasingly regard themselves as locked in a direct competition to secure a military edge, corner the 21st-century economy, and win the affections of second-tier countries, U.S. and Chinese officials say.
Diplomats in Washington expect Beijing to test the United States in the coming weeks, taking advantage of the US’s perceived shift in focus on Ukraine and Israel, as it pursues its own ambitions in the Indo-Pacific.
Biden is expected to tell Xi that US commitments in the Indo-Pacific are unchanged. China has worried its neighbors in recent years with steps in the Taiwan Strait, South China Sea, and East China Sea, areas of international dispute. Biden will also express a specific commitment to the security of the Philippines, one of the US officials said.
SD/PR
