US President Joe Biden seeks to prevent US-China ties from deteriorating further in a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Monday, American officials said ahead of the long-awaited sit-down, APA reports citing Bloomberg.
Biden and Xi will speak Monday evening in Bali, Indonesia, on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summits, in the first in-person meeting between leaders of the world’s biggest economies since the pandemic emerged. Both countries have tempered expectations, with tensions high over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, US curbs on chip exports to China, and the status of Taiwan.
Biden will seek to build a floor under the relationship and increase communication responsibly and practically, the US officials said Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of the meeting. The effort to plan the meeting by itself has helped to resume more normal ties with Beijing, they said.
“We have very little misunderstanding,” Biden told reporters on Sunday in Cambodia. “We’ve just got to figure out where the red lines are and what we — what are the most important things to each of us going into the next two years.”
China cut off working-level cooperation with the US in areas including military relations and climate change earlier this year after Nancy Pelosi became the first House speaker in 25 years to visit Taiwan. Beijing followed that up with unprecedented military drills around the island, while Biden repeated a pledge that US troops would defend Taiwan against an attack.
The US has played down expectations for the meeting, casting it as a first step rather than a decisive showdown. The tensions, along with Russia’s absence from the summit, underscore the challenges facing the G-20 and have fueled doubts about its viability.