White House plans face-to-face meeting between Biden and China’s Xi Jinping in California
Biden and Xi Jinping to hold first ‘in-person’ meeting.
The White House said that it has started making plans for a meeting to be held in San Francisco between United States President Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in November, an attempt which is aimed at stabilising the tumultuous relationship between the two countries, as per senior administration officials.
“It’s pretty firm” that a meeting will be held, confirmed an administration even though a formal announcement of the engagement has not happened as of yet. “We’re beginning the process” of planning, said the official, as reported by The Washington Post.
A second senior administration official stated that Biden is looking forward to the scheduled meeting with Xi, but added that “nothing has been confirmed yet.”
The plans will be confirmed after the US visit of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Washington in the coming weeks, said the administration officials.
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This ‘in-person’ meeting will be the first to be held between the leaders of the two countries after their meeting on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, last November.
Escalating tension between US and China
There, the two presidents had emphasised the importance of face-to-face diplomacy and expressed hope that the relations between the US and China could be brought back on track.
However, after Biden shot down a Chinese spy balloon which travelled over the continental United States in February, the ties between the two nations frayed further.
With the aim to re-engage, in recent months, four top Biden administration officials travelled to Beijing, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and climate envoy John F. Kerry.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan last month held talks with Wang in Malta for two days. The conversations were described by the White House as “candid, substantive and constructive.”
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However, even after repeated overtures by the US, the communications have remained frozen between top American military officials and their counterparts in Beijing.
In March, Washington was accused by Xi of leading an effort by the West aimed at implementing “containment, encirclement and suppression of China” to slow its development.
Last month, China’s Ministry of State Security, in a cryptic post on its WeChat social media page, indicated that prospects for a summit between Xi and Biden will depend on the United States “show[ing] enough sincerity.”
(With inputs from agencies)
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