Biden to Meet Xi on Wednesday in San Francisco

President Joe Biden will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping face-to-face for the primary time in a 12 months Wednesday, in accordance to senior U.S. officers, high-stakes diplomacy aimed toward curbing tensions between the world’s two superpowers.

The intently watched interplay, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in the San Francisco Bay space, may final hours and contain groups of officers from Beijing and Washington.

It is anticipated to cowl international points from the Israel-Hamas battle to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, North Korea’s ties with Russia, Taiwan, the Indo-Pacific, human rights, fentanyl, synthetic intelligence, in addition to “fair” commerce and financial relations, the officers stated.

“Nothing will be held back; everything is on the table,” one senior Biden administration official who declined to be named instructed reporters.

“We’re clear-eyed about this. We know efforts to shape or reform China over several decades have failed. But we expect China to be around and to be a major player on the world stage for the rest of our lifetimes.”

U.S. officers, who’ve been pushing for the assembly for the higher a part of a 12 months, consider Beijing has actively been working to undermine U.S. coverage world wide.

Biden and Xi will communicate throughout oceans of ideological distinction for the primary time since November 2022. The U.S. president’s group engineered a diplomatic blitz to restore hostile relations after Biden ordered the taking pictures down of a suspected Chinese spy balloon that transited U.S. skies in February.

A foremost result’s anticipated to be higher diplomacy – guarantees to discuss extra on key points, together with on local weather, international well being, financial stability, counter-narcotic efforts and probably the resumption of some military-to-military channels after a high-level freeze.

Both sides might make modest gestures of goodwill to ease talks, in accordance to two different individuals briefed on the discussions.

But deep progress will likely be onerous to come by. Both nations more and more regard themselves as locked in a direct competitors to safe a navy edge, nook the Twenty first-century financial system and win the affections of second-tier nations, U.S. and Chinese officers say.

Efforts to rigorously choreograph Xi’s go to could also be upended in the restive Northern California metropolis, which has a protracted historical past of left-wing protest and agitation.

Biden and Xi have recognized one another for greater than a decade and shared hours of dialog over six interactions since Biden’s 2021 inauguration. But each males come to the desk with mutual suspicion, grievances and garbled impressions of what the opposite is searching for, analysts say.

Among different delicate subjects, Biden is anticipated to increase Chinese “influence operations” in international elections and the standing of U.S. residents that Washington believes are wrongly detained in China.

Biden, 80, presides over an financial system that has outperformed expectations and most wealthy nations after the COVID-19 pandemic. Unpopular with voters at residence, he’s searching for a second time period in workplace amid issues concerning the stability of U.S. democracy.

Nonetheless, Biden has corralled the nation’s conventional allies from Europe to Asia to confront Russia in Ukraine, though some have variations over the Israel-Hamas battle.

Washington’s lengthy alliances, from NATO to the protection treaties in the Pacific, are not-so-quietly being summoned in Asia to deter a battle with China.

Xi, a decade Biden’s junior, has change into essentially the most highly effective Chinese chief since Mao Zedong, after tightening management over coverage, state leaders, the media and navy and altering the structure. Recently, compounding financial challenges have thrown the nation off its three-decade, rocket-propelled development trajectory.

Diplomats in Washington count on Beijing to check the United States in coming weeks, making the most of the U.S.’s perceived shift in focus on Ukraine and Israel, because it pursues its personal ambitions in the Indo-Pacific.

Biden is anticipated to inform Xi that U.S. commitments in the Indo-Pacific are unchanged. China has apprehensive its neighbors in current years with steps in the Taiwan Strait, South China Sea and East China Sea, areas of worldwide dispute. Biden may even categorical a particular dedication to the safety of the Philippines, one of many U.S. officers stated.

Biden can be anticipated to press Xi to impress on Iran that it will be unwise to strive to develop the battle in the Middle East, the official stated.