Biden, China’s Xi expected to meet virtually

ZURICH >> With tensions rising between the global powers, President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are expected to hold a virtual meeting before year’s end, according to the White House.

The agreement in principle for the talks was disclosed after White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan and senior Chinese foreign policy adviser Yang Jiechi met for six hours in Zurich.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the two sides still are working through what the virtual meeting “would look like.”

The presidential meeting was proposed after Biden, who spent a substantial amount of time with Xi when the two were vice presidents, mentioned during their call last month that he would like to be able to see Xi again, according to a senior administration official, who was not authorized to comment publicly on the talks between Sullivan and Yang and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Xi has not left China during the coronavirus pandemic and is not expected to attend in person the upcoming Group of 20 summit in Rome and a U.N. climate conference in Scotland.

A White House statement on the Swiss meeting said Sullivan stressed to Yang the need to maintain open lines of communication, while raising concerns about China’s recent military provocations against Taiwan, human rights abuses against ethnic minorities and Beijing’s efforts to squelch prodemocracy advocates in Hong Kong.

Sullivan made clear that while the United States would “continue to invest in our own national strength,” it sought better engagement at a senior level “to ensure responsible competition,” the statement said.

U.S. officials have expressed frustration that interactions with high-level Chinese counterparts, including Yang, in the early stages of Biden’s presidency have been less than constructive. But the talks Wednesday were described as respectful, constructive and perhaps the most indepth between the sides since Biden took office in January, according to the administration official.

China’s official Xinhua News Agency echoed that description, saying the two sides had a candid and indepth exchange of views. It quoted Yang as saying that “China attaches importance to the positive remarks on China-U.S. relations made recently by U.S. President Joe Biden, and China has noticed that the U.S. side said it ... is not seeking a new Cold War.”