by Topline
President Joe Biden will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping next week in San Francisco, U.S. officials confirmed Friday, amid an effort by both countries to stabilize relations that have soured over the last year.
One U.S. official said “everything is on the table” between the two leaders.
Key Facts
Biden will meet with Xi Wednesday at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in San Francisco to discuss the “continued importance of maintaining open lines of communication” in addition to “a range of regional and global issues,” the Biden administration said Friday.
The two leaders are expected to discuss several issues, including Taiwan, election interference in the U.S., China’s backing of Russia in its invasion of Ukraine and the conflict between Israel and Hamas, two senior advisers to Biden said Thursday, according to the New York Times.
Biden is expected to warn Xi against China interfering in Taiwanese and American elections next year, according to the advisers.
Chinese officials are hoping for Biden to commit to opposing Taiwanese independence, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The U.S. is also expected to call for China to end the export of some chemicals to Mexico, where they are then used by drug cartels to create fentanyl, according to the Journal.
Contra
Oriana Mastro, a fellow at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute, told the Times that a discussion between Xi and Biden will likely not lead to any breakthroughs, adding: “There won’t be anything that will move the relationship in a different direction.”
Surprising Fact
Wang Yi, China’s senior foreign policy official, reached an “agreement in principle” for a summit between the two leaders during a meeting two weeks ago in Washington D.C., the Journal reported. Wang expressed a reluctance for Chinese officials to meet with the Biden administration amid concerns the U.S. would do something in opposition to China’s interests, like an arms deal with Taiwan or sanctions on a major Chinese firm.
Key Background
Biden and Xi met last year during a three-hour meeting in Bali, Indonesia. During that meeting, Biden called out China’s “coercive and increasingly aggressive actions” toward Taiwan and China’s relationship with Russia, which launched its invasion of Ukraine earlier that year. Relations between China and the U.S. have since soured, including a dispute between both countries after a Chinese spy balloon was shot down over South Carolina in February. The U.S. military released a video last month that allegedly shows a Chinese fighter jet coming within 10 feet of an American B-52 bomber over the South China Sea, according to the Associated Press. The incident was the latest involving an “unnecessarily aggressive maneuver” by a Chinese fighter jet near an American plane after a similar incident in May. Some reports also suggest the Biden administration believes state-sponsored Chinese hackers infiltrated American infrastructure networks. Wang Wenbin, spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry, denied claims that China was surveilling the U.S., which he referred to as the “global champion of hacking and superpower of surveillance.”
Further Reading
Biden And Xi To Seek To Stabilize Relations In California Meeting (New York Times)
Biden To Meet Xi On Wednesday In San Francisco Bay Area, US Says (Reuters)
China, U.S. Confirm Biden And Xi Jinping Will Meet In San Francisco (Wall Street Journal)
