Washington DC:
President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping will discuss strengthening communications and managing competition when they meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit this week, the White House said on Monday.
The face-to-face meeting in the San Francisco Bay Area on Wednesday will be the first between Biden and Xi in over a year, with high-level diplomacy aimed at reducing tensions between the two superpowers.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters that Biden believes there is no substitute for face-to-face diplomacy to manage complex relationships.
Sullivan said, “We hope the leaders will discuss some of the most fundamental elements of the US-PRC bilateral relationship, including the continued importance of strengthening open lines of communication and managing competition responsibly so that it does not escalate into conflict.” Let it change.” To the People’s Republic of China.
“The way we achieve this is through intensive diplomacy. This is how we avoid misconceptions and avoid surprises.”
Sullivan said Biden would go to the summit “on a stronger footing,” with the United States able to compete effectively at home and abroad and with “the strongest recovery and lowest inflation of any leading economy.”
He said Washington is expecting specific outcomes from the meeting and hopes to see progress in re-establishing military-to-military ties with China and tackling the fentanyl trade that has become a scourge in the United States.
China last year cut military-to-military communications with the United States after a visit to Taiwan, a democratically ruled island China claims as its own, by then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Strained relations further soured when the US shot down an American spy balloon in February.
Sullivan said communication between the armies is a way to ensure competition does not turn into conflict and that China has been “constructive” on the issue in talks leading up to the summit.
“We will see what happens in San Francisco and the president will be able to report after the meeting on whether we have actually made progress in restoring military-to-military contacts,” he said.
Biden and Xi have known each other for more than a decade and have spent hours in six conversations since Biden’s 2021 inauguration.
Reading- Joe Biden, Xi Jinping set to capture APEC’s attention with talks on stable ties
However, they have met only once in person since then and Xi has not visited the United States since 2017. Analysts and executives say they will come to the table in an atmosphere of mutual suspicion and distorted perceptions of what others want.
Senior Biden administration officials said the meeting will include global issues ranging from the Israel-Hamas war to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, North Korea’s relations with Russia, Taiwan, human rights, artificial intelligence as well as “fair” trade and economic relations. It is also expected to be discussed. Said.
Sullivan said Biden would increase stability throughout the Middle East, adding that Beijing should share an interest in reducing tensions there.
Biden will emphasize that it is not in China’s interests for Iran to act in an “escalating, destabilizing manner,” he said. “And the PRC, of course, has a relationship with Iran, and is able to convey those points directly to the Iranian government if it wants to.”
Leaders of the 21-member APEC forum are due to gather in San Francisco from Wednesday to Friday and the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine have divided opinion among them.
APEC senior US official Matt Murray told reporters on Monday that the US-PRC are working hard to get a strong consensus statement from leaders, but analysts say the division has made drafting a difficult one. .
Sullivan said that at APEC, Biden will lay out his economic vision for the region and speak about “how the United States is a key driver of inclusive, sustainable economic growth in Asia Pacific.”
