WASHINGTON, November 10 (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden will meet face-to-face with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday for the first time in a year, the White House announced on Friday.
This closely watched meeting, aimed at reducing tensions between the two powers, will be held on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in the San Francisco Bay region.
It could last several hours and involve teams of officials from Beijing and Washington.
Issues such as the Israel-Hamas war, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, North Korea-Russia ties, the situation in Taiwan, the Indo-Pacific region, human rights man, fentanyl, artificial intelligence and “equitable” trade and economic relations should be addressed, according to Biden administration officials.
“Nothing will be held back; everything is on the table,” a senior Biden administration official who declined to be named told reporters.
“We are clear-minded about this. We know that decades-long efforts to shape or reform China have failed. But we expect China to exist and be a major player on the world stage until the end of our lives,” he said.
U.S. officials, who have been calling for the meeting for nearly a year, believe Beijing is actively working to undermine U.S. policy around the world.
The White House confirmed the date of the meeting in a statement on Friday. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Friday that Xi Jinping would visit the United States from November 14 to 17, that he would attend the APEC summit and that he would meet Joe Biden.
One of the main expected outcomes of the discussions between the two leaders is a commitment to further discussion on key issues such as climate, global health, economic stability, the fight against drug trafficking and, eventually, recovery of certain communication channels between military personnel after a high-level freeze.
Both sides could make modest gestures of goodwill to facilitate talks, according to two other sources familiar with the discussions.
But it will be difficult to achieve significant progress, with the two countries increasingly seeing themselves in direct competition to secure military and economic advantage.
Among other sensitive subjects, Joe Biden is expected to discuss Chinese “influence operations” in foreign elections and the status of American citizens who, according to Washington, are unjustly detained in China.
U.S. commitments in the Indo-Pacific region, the security of the Philippines and Iran’s role in the Middle East conflict are also expected to be discussed at the meeting, according to an official. (Report Trevor Hunnicutt; French version Diana Mandiá, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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