United States President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping are set to convene in a virtual meeting on Monday to talk about international issues amid rising tensions between the two nations, the White House announced on Friday.
The conversation is expected to take place in order for the two nations to cooperate regarding climate change efforts and potentially discuss other issues, including Taiwan, trade, human rights, and several others. White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed the meeting in a statement, saying the two leaders will discuss how to "responsibly manage the competition."
Biden-Xi Virtual Summit
Psaki noted that throughout the scheduled virtual meeting, the Democratic president will make clear to the Chinese president the intentions and priorities of the United States. Biden will also be candid about his concerns with China, the press secretary added.
The virtual meeting marks the third direct engagement between the two presidents since Biden became the U.S. leader in January. Despite the virtual summit, the two nations are not expected to issue a joint statement after the conclusion of the talks, the Washington Post reported.
Senior White House officials said that the Monday virtual summit will be unlike traditional summits that are carefully choreographed to produce some sort of tangible outcome. One administration official said that the summit was not about expecting certain deliverables or outcomes.
The official, who requested anonymity because the agenda was still being finalized on Friday, said that the summit was about "setting the terms of an effective competition." He added the nation can sustain vigorous competition when some terms or guardrails are established.
The virtual summit on Monday comes amid rising tensions between the United States and China over several international issues, including Beijing's continued aggression against Taipei. In the last few weeks, China carried out several flights of warplane fleets into Taipei's air defense identification zone (ADIZ), CNBC reported.
Several International Issues
An agreement between White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan and senior Chinese foreign policy adviser Yang Jiechi was made to conduct the Biden-Xi summit before the end of 2021. The decision was made after the two officials met last month in Zurich for discussions, where they did not yet settle on a date for the meeting.
The Monday virtual meeting was proposed after U.S. president Biden, who had previously spent a considerable amount of time engaged with Xi when they were both vice presidents, said in a phone call in September with the Chinese president that it would be good for the two to see each other again, said the White House.
Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, Chinese President Xi has not left China to attend any international events, opting to join virtually for the most part. White House officials decided to hold a virtual meeting as they believed it was the best substitute that would allow the two presidents to have a substantive conversation on several issues that have strained the relationship between the United States and China over the past few months, Fox News reported.
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