The summit is the first face-to-face meeting of the leaders since Biden took office in January 2021. It will take place on the Indonesian island on Monday and amid rising tensions over Taiwan, a self-governing republic that China claims as its territory and has vowed to “reunite”, by force if necessary. Biden will outline US priorities on China’s “provocative” military actions near Taiwan, one of the officials said, adding that the main goal of the meeting was to “reduce misunderstandings and misunderstandings and put steps in place which we believe will define the rules of the road”. Increased cooperation will not necessarily lead to substantive progress on “thornier issues” such as Taiwan, the official said. The goal is to “find ways to communicate” in these tougher areas, “because the only thing worse than … having controversial conversations is not having conversations at all.” Biden and Xi, who last spoke by phone in September, are not expected to make diplomatic progress but instead will try to “reset” the relationship between Washington and Beijing. “We are in competition. President Biden embraces that, but he wants to make sure that this competition is limited, that we build guardrails, that we have clear rules of the road, and that we do all of that to make sure that competition doesn’t turn into conflict,” said an elderly White. said a House official. The official, one of two who briefed reporters on Monday morning, said Biden’s approach had the support of “allies and partners” in the region, including key allies Japan and South Korea. “There is broad support for our determination to build the floor on the relationship to increase communications responsibly.” Another senior official said: “Our view is that the lines of communication should be open. I expect that’s something that President Biden will make quite clear to President Xi today: not only to open channels, but to authorize key officials on both sides to actually watch some of what the presidents will discuss. “ China drew widespread criticism in August after it held military exercises off the coast of Taiwan in an angry response to a highly controversial visit to the island by Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the US House. In September, Biden said US forces would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion – his clearest statement on the issue yet – prompting another angry response from Beijing. Relations between the superpowers have sunk to their lowest level in decades, marred by rising tensions over issues ranging from Hong Kong and Taiwan to the South China Sea, coercive trade practices and US restrictions on Chinese technology. Biden, buoyed by the military revolution in Ukraine and the Democratic hold on the US Senate, said before the summit that he and Xi would draw “red lines” in their relationship. But they will not discuss specifics, according to White House officials, and will not issue a joint statement. Biden is expected to speak to reporters in Bali after the meeting, which could last more than two hours, but it is unclear if he will hold a full news conference. Monday’s meeting is the result of dozens of hours of talks between US and Chinese officials over the past two months. Biden has held five phone and video calls with Xi since early 2021, but Monday’s talks will be their first in person since 2017, when Biden was Barack Obama’s vice president. The last US president to meet in person was Donald Trump in 2019. “I know Xi Jinping, he knows me,” Biden said over the weekend, adding that they had always had “straight talks.” Agencies contributed to reporting.
