President Joe Biden will meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping face-to-face on Monday, their first face-to-face meeting since Biden took office and one that will provide a clarifying opportunity for the world’s most important bilateral relationship.
“The leaders will discuss efforts to maintain and deepen lines of communication between the United States and the DPRK, responsibly manage competition, and cooperate where our interests align, especially on transnational challenges affecting the international community. The two leaders will also discuss a range of regional and global issues,” White House press secretary Karin Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
US officials enter the meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali with no expectations of major deliverables or even hope that tensions will ease significantly.
But they hope Biden can “build the floor” of a working relationship that doesn’t end up in conflict and even allows for productive cooperation on areas like climate and North Korea.
“I do not believe in any way that the two leaders will sit down and be able to resolve all their differences or problems,” said a senior government official. “But I think we think some of those steps could be important down the road.”
Rather than any major proposals, US officials hope the two leaders can at least reach a mutual understanding about where they see the relationship between the world’s largest economies. The official said the talks would be “in-depth” and “substantive”.
“One of the main goals is really to deepen their understanding of each other’s priorities and intentions, where possible, with the goal of reducing misunderstandings and misunderstandings,” the official said.
The respective leaders’ exchange of views on the US-China relationship, which has soured in recent months after Beijing reacted angrily to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to self-ruled Taiwan, will be discussed.
China cut off most official channels of communication with the United States afterward, although there were enough contacts to arrange the meeting between Biden and Xi. In those talks, US and Chinese officials discussed restoring communications.
Biden and Xi have spoken by phone five times since the president entered the White House. They traveled a lot together, both in China and the United States when they were both serving as their country’s vice presidents.
Both enter Monday’s meeting on the back of major political events. Biden did better than expected in the US midterm elections and Xi was elevated to an unprecedented third term by the Chinese Communist Party.
US officials declined to speculate on how the political status of the two leaders might affect the dynamics of their meeting. Instead, they identified areas they expected to be on the table.
This includes the issue of Taiwan, which Beijing claims. Biden has previously pledged to use US military force to defend the island from a Chinese invasion. The issue is one of the most contentious between Biden and Xi.
Biden will also raise human rights concerns, the official said. The US accuses China of committing genocide against the Muslim minority population in the western province of Xinjiang.
Biden will also address what the US sees as China’s harmful economic practices. It is unclear whether the issue of US tariffs on Chinese goods will come up in the talks.
The president also plans to discuss areas where the two countries can work together, including climate change.
And it will raise the issue of Russia’s war in Ukraine and North Korea’s continued provocations – two areas where the US is looking to China to impose its influence to prevent further conflict.
The official did not specify what Biden’s message on North Korea would be, saying they did not want China to know Biden’s talking points in advance.
