United States President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will have an in-person meeting on Monday, Nov. 14, in Indonesia’s Bali, where the two leaders are attending the G-20 summit, the White House announced on Thursday (Nov. 10).
“The leaders will discuss efforts to maintain and deepen lines of communication between the US and the PRC [People’s Republic of China], responsibly manage competition, and work together where our interests align, especially on transnational challenges that affect the international community,” the White House’s statement read.
The meeting will be the first between the two leaders since Biden took office in 2021, although they have met virtually. It also comes shortly after Xi was confirmed as leader of China for a precedent-breaking third term.
The US-China relationship, one of the world’s most important bilateral relationships, has deteriorated in recent months after a visit to Taiwan by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Biden’s explicit pledge to defend the self-ruled island.
The White House called China’s military drills that followed an “unprecedented pressure campaign” for the island that China claims as its own. The drills included launches of ballistic missiles, some of which flew over the island’s capital of Taipei, and simulated sea and air attacks in surrounding skies and waters.
Biden during a press conference at the White House on Wednesday (Nov. 9), a day after the conclusion of Tuesday’s midterm elections, hinted at a conversation with Xi, saying he would discuss American “red lines” over Taiwan among other issues
He also said that he is looking for competition and not conflict with China.
“And so what I want to do with him when we talk is lay out what each of our red lines are and understand what he believes to be in the critical national interests of China, what I know to be the critical interests of the United States, and to determine whether or not they conflict with one another,” Biden told reporters. “And if they do, how to resolve it and how to work it out.”
Recently, Xi expressed Beijing’s readiness to work with Washington to achieve peaceful coexistence.
UPDATE 15/11/2022
During a three-hour meeting in Bali, the American and Chinese leaders “were very blunt with one another” on a range of topics where they do not see eye to eye, Biden told reporters. Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying, who was in the meeting, said on Twitter the two leaders “instructed their teams to promptly follow up and implement common understandings reached between them, and take concrete actions to put China-U.S. relations back on the track of steady development.”
With reporting by Reuters, South China Morning Post, Al Jazeera
