US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet on Nov 15 in the San Francisco area to try to “stabilise” relations after recent tensions between the two superpowers, US officials said.
The meeting, which had not previously been confirmed, is not expected to produce major outcomes but is aimed at avoiding conflict between China and the United States, said senior administration officials.
Biden and Xi will also discuss pressing global crises such as the Israel-Hamas war and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as tensions over the flashpoint island of Taiwan.
The two leaders have not met for a year since their last encounter in Bali in November 2022, and relations between Beijing and Washington have plunged into a deep freeze since then.
“President Biden will indeed meet with President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China in the San Francisco Bay area of California on Nov 15,” a senior US official told reporters on Thursday (Nov 10) in embargoed comments.
Biden, 80, and Xi, 70, are both attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco next week, but officials would not say whether their meeting would happen in the city itself.
“Our goal will be to try to take steps that indeed stabilise the relationship between United States and China, remove some areas of misunderstanding and open up new lines of communication,” added the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“We are in competition with China, but we do not seek conflict confrontation or a new Cold War. We’re for managing the competition responsibly.”
There was no immediate confirmation from Beijing.
AFP
