The White House is arranging for US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to meet in person in San Francisco next month as the two nations work to mend strained ties, the Washington Post reported on Thursday.
Biden plans meeting with China’s Xi: Relationships between the two greatest economies in the world have deteriorated recently as a result of a variety of issues, including Taiwan, the cause of the COVID-19 epidemic, surveillance suspicions, human rights concerns, and trade tariffs, among others.
Unnamed senior US officials quoted by the publication indicated that the likelihood of a meeting was “pretty firm.” The newspaper reported the official as saying, “We’re initiating the planning process.”
The Chinese embassy in Washington made no particular remarks in response to the newspaper report. In a statement sent through email, an embassy official said that the two nations continued to communicate and needed to increase their “good faith” collaboration.
The White House did not immediately respond with a statement.
The meeting would come after previous important bilateral talks between the two nations in recent months, including trips to China by US officials like Secretary of State Antony Blinken in June, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in July, and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo in August.
More recently, US national security advisor Jake Sullivan met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Malta and Blinken met Chinese Vice President Han Zheng in New York.
Their most recent encounter took place in November 2022 in Indonesia during the G20 conference. It was their first face-to-face encounter since Biden took office.
“Xi-Biden Relations and the Prospects for a Meeting: Diplomatic Signals and Upcoming Summits”
Prior to Biden taking office, they had five phone and video conference conversations. Any meeting between Xi and Biden will depend on the United States “showing sufficient sincerity,” China’s top security agency said last month.
Washington has recently stated that it does not seek to separate from China, but Beijing has expressed alarm over US acceptance of arms sales and military financing to Taiwan. US officials like Raimondo and Yellen have recently made this statement.
In November, San Francisco will host a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), and Xi might attend. Biden recently attended the G20 summit in New Delhi while Xi stayed home.