United States President Joe Biden is expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping personally on Monday, the first such encounter between the two leaders since the Democrat took office.
Furthermore, the face-to-face meeting will offer a rare opportunity to clarify the world's most crucial bilateral relationship. In a statement, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that Biden and Xi will discuss efforts to maintain and deepen lines of communication between the two countries but will most likely not include a conversation about Taiwan.
Biden and Xi To Meet
Jean-Pierre added that these include responsibility for managing competition and working together where the two nations' interests align, specifically on transnational challenges that affect the global community.
American authorities are entering the sit-down on the sidelines of the G20 summit, which would be held in Bali, without expectations for major deliverables or even the hope that tensions will be addressed.
However, U.S. officials are hoping that President Biden will be able to "build the floor" of at least a functional relationship with China that does not tip over into conflict. They are also hopeful that it allows for productive cooperation in areas such as climate and North Korea, as per CNN.
A senior Biden administration official said that there was no reason to believe that the two world leaders would sit down and solve all of their differences or problems. However, they added that some of the discussions could be important in the future.
U.S. officials hope that Biden and Xi can at least come to a mutual understanding about where they see the relationship between China and the US going. The official added that the main goal of the meeting was to deepen understanding of one another's priorities and intentions.
According to CNBC, the official also noted that Biden would most likely address concerns regarding harmful economic practices, Chinese activity that "threatens peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, as well as the long-standing concerns regarding human rights violations.
Bilateral Relationship
On Wednesday, Biden said that he wants to address the rising tensions between China and the United States. In a statement, the Democrat said that he wants to lay out what each of the two leaders' red lines are and understand what Xi believes to be in the critical national interests of his country.
During Biden's presidency, the two leaders have only talked five times and have not yet had a chance to meet each other personally. The Chinese president remained close to his home country since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.
Xi previously went on his first trip last month to visit Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. But the senior Biden administration official declined to reveal details about the COVID-19 mitigation measures that will be in place for the meeting between the two world leaders.
Tensions between China and the U.S. reached a peak after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in a show of support for the self-governing island nation's democracy. The White House called China's military exercises following the visit an "unprecedented pressure campaign" for the island nation that Beijing claims is part of its territory, NPR reported.
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