NEW YORK, Nov 1 — US President Joe Biden plans to meet Chinese Premier Xi Jinping at a Pacific economic summit in San Francisco in November, the White House announced Tuesday, reported German news agency (dpa).
The president and the leader of the world’s second-largest economy are expected to meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit.
The White House said the world should not expect any breakthroughs or dramatic policy shifts.
“Our policy and how we move forward with China has not changed,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Tuesday during a news briefing.
“Intense competition means intense diplomacy.”
The announcement came a few days after Biden met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the White House.
The meeting with Xi comes as the rival global powers seek to stabilise an increasingly tense relationship at a time of conflict in Ukraine and Israel, and increasing tensions over Taiwan.
There is no date for the meeting yet. Xi will travel to San Francisco for the annual APEC summit, which runs from Nov 11 to 17.
Biden occasionally brags about his close personal relationship with Xi despite the two nations’ serious and seemingly intractable disputes. He may seek to avoid high-profile meetings with Xi once the presidential election campaign starts in earnest next year to avoid political fallout from voters.
Biden and Xi last met in November 2022 on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia. The president said he was disappointed that the Chinese leader didn’t attend this year’s G20 summit last month in New Delhi, India.
The two nations have been feuding over China’s increasingly close diplomatic and economic ties to Russia amid Western sanctions over Moscow’s invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.
Diplomatic ties also took a blow when a Chinese spy balloon was spotted cruising over the US in February before it was shot down off the coast of South Carolina.
Taiwan has also been a flashpoint since the island’s ruling party backs formal independence. China considers the island to be a breakaway province that will eventually rejoin the mainland.
