United States President Joe Biden is set to meet with his Chinese counterpart, President Xi Jinping, in California for diplomatic talks to stabilize U.S.-China relations.
The two world leaders plan to finally meet face-to-face on Wednesday for a discussion that Biden's advisers have said is meant to address rising tensions between the two nations. The meeting will feature a host of topics on which the two countries disagree.
Joe Biden-Xi Jinping Meeting
The Biden administration formally announced the meeting on Friday morning and said that Biden and Xi would have the lightly choreographed discussions as they attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit (APEC) in San Francisco.
During a Thursday call with reporters, two senior advisers to Biden said that the planned meeting was intended to be wide-ranging. The Democratic leader is said to be prepared to bring up issues including Taiwan, election interference, the Russia-Ukraine war, as well as the Israel-Hamas war, as per the New York Times.
The issue of Taiwan will come up as it is a self-ruled island that China has continuously claimed to be part of its territory. It is also expected to hold elections for local leaders early next year and one of the advisers said that Biden would seek to present Xi with "clarity,"
This means that the United States expects Beijing not to interfere and is worried that it could step in amid Taiwan's elections. Additionally, the American president is expected to issue a warning to Xi against interfering in U.S. elections.
The advisers who spoke about the details of the meeting between Biden and Xi requested to remain anonymous. Despite the information that they gave, they did not provide specifics on its location, citing security concerns.
The meeting will come as the relationship between the U.S. and China has been shaky over a plethora of issues. These include Washington accusing Beijing of sending a spy balloon across the former's airspace. An American warplane later shot down the flying object off the coast of South Carolina, according to BBC.
Addressing the Strained U.S.-China Relationship
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also visited Taiwan last year which became controversial after China broke off communication between the two nations' militaries. Biden seems determined to restore those particular channels but China, on the other hand, appeared reluctant.
One of the officials said that this is not the relationship of five or 10 years ago, adding that they are not talking about a long list of outcomes or deliverables. He added that the objective of the meeting will be managing the competition, preventing the downside of risk - of conflict, and making sure that channels of communication remain open.
Another factor that caused the relationship between the two nations to deteriorate included new limits issued by Biden that were imposed on advanced technology exported to China. This decision was made in an effort to protect U.S. national security.
Furthermore, Washington has pressured Beijing to play a more constructive role in both the Russia-Ukraine war and the Israel-Hamas conflict. The American government has urged its Chinese counterpart to step up its role on the world stage, said CNN.
