Biden: US seeks no conflict with China
US PRESIDENT TO MEET CHINESE LEADER AT G20 SUMMIT
US President Joe Biden yesterday said his country will maintain open communication lines and seek no conflict with China, ahead of what are expected to be tense talks on a range of geopolitical issues at the G20 summit in Indonesia this week.
Biden and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping are today set to meet face-to-face for the first time since Biden took office, as bilateral relations languish at their worst in decades.
Jake Sullivan, a national security adviser to Biden, told reporters the meeting could last “a couple of hours”.
Biden, who landed in Bali island after meeting Southeast Asian and East Asian leaders in Cambodia, said the US would “compete vigorously” with Beijing while “ensuring competition does not veer into conflict”.
Biden goes into the meeting on the back of a major domestic victory with Democrats clinching control of the Senate, while Xi secured an unprecedented third term in office last month.
“I know I’m coming in stronger but I don’t need that. I know Xi Jinping, I spent more time with him than any other world leader.” Biden told reporters in Cambodia on Sunday after the Senate results. “There’s never any miscalculation about ...where each of us stands.”
The meeting is unlikely to produce concrete results and no joint statement is expected, the White House has said.
I know I’m coming in stronger but I don’t need that. I know Xi, I spent more time with him than any other world leader.There’s never any miscalculation about ...where each of us stands.”
Joe Biden | US President on meeting China’s Xi Jinping