Biden and Xi to hold bilateral talks for first time on Monday
Us President Joe Biden und China’s leader Xi Jinping will meet on Monday before the G20 summit in indonesia for their first bilateral talks, the White House said on thursday.
the meeting comes at a time of particularly strained relations between the two countries over the issue of taiwan and whether the Us would defend the island in the case of a Chinese invasion.
Biden and Xi have spoken five times in the past two years, but had not met in person since Biden moved into the White House in January 2021. the two had met in person in the past when both were vice presidents.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Xi had not travelled abroad at all since January 2020 until a september trip to kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
the G20 summit of major economic powers is scheduled to take place on the indonesian island of Bali on november 15 and 16.
“i don’t think the two will sit down and resolve all their differences or issues,” a senior Us government official said, referring to the meeting.
she said it would be a “strategic, in-depth and substantive conversation,” which would also be about clearing up misunderstandings. a joint statement after the talks was not planned, she continued.
Biden had said on Wednesday that he would like to discuss “red lines” with Xi.
“Look, i’m not willing to make any fundamental concessions,” Biden told reporters when asked whether he would tell Xi that Washington is willing to defend taiwan militarily in the event of a Chinese invasion.
in the past, Biden had promised taiwan military support. Communist Beijing regards taiwan as part of China and wants to reincorporate the island.
Xi’s attitude towards Russia is also likely to come up at the bilateral meeting. China has so far not clearly condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which Biden has repeatedly and forcefully criticized.
the Us is among Western nations to have heavily sanctioned Vladimir Putin’s regime for the war.
Xi met Putin in Uzbekistan in september.
Xi has stayed close to home throughout the global COViD-19 pandemic, where he has enforced a “zero COViD” policy that has resulted in mass lockdowns that have roiled the global supply chains.
He made his first trip outside China since start of the pandemic in september with a stop in kazakhstan and then onto Uzbekistan to take part in the eight-nation shanghai Cooperation Organization with Putin and other leaders of the Central asian security group.
Us officials were eager to see how Xi approaches the meeting after being newly empowered with a third term and consolidating his position as the unquestioned leader of the state, saying they would wait to assess whether that made him more or less likely to seek out areas of cooperation with the U.s.
they emphasized that party congress results reinforced the importance of direct engagement with Xi, rather than lower level officials whom they’ve found unable or unwilling to speak for the Chinese leader.