Biden, Xi Meet as US-China Military, Economic Tensions Grind on

President Joe Biden meets Chinese chief Xi Jinping for the primary time in a yr Wednesday, for talks that may ease friction between the adversarial superpowers on navy conflicts, drug-trafficking, and synthetic intelligence.

However, deep progress on the huge variations separating the world’s financial superpowers could have to attend for an additional day.

Officials on each side of the Pacific have set expectations low as Biden and Xi are set to debate Taiwan, the South China Sea, the Israel-Hamas battle, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, North Korea, and human rights, every of them areas the place the leaders have been unable to resolve lengthy disagreements.

Biden and Xi arrived in San Francisco on Tuesday, the place they had been set to carry their assembly on the sidelines the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.

Leaders from the 21-member nation group – and lots of of CEOs in San Francisco to courtroom them – meet amid Chinese financial weak point, Beijing’s simmering territorial feuds with neighbors and a Middle East battle that’s dividing the United States from allies.

Efforts to fastidiously choreograph Xi’s go to could also be upended within the restive Northern California metropolis, regardless of efforts to drive homeless individuals from the streets. The route from the airport to the convention website was lined with demonstrators for and towards China’s ruling Communist Party, an uncommon sight for Xi who final visited the United States in 2017.

Biden has sought direct diplomacy with Xi, betting {that a} private relationship he has cultivated for a dozen years with probably the most highly effective Chinese chief since Mao Zedong would possibly salvage bilateral ties which are more and more turning hostile.

Xi and Biden are anticipated to satisfy removed from the convention location at an enormous property miles exterior of San Francisco fastidiously chosen for its safety, serenity and remoteness.

“The table has been set … over the course of many weeks for what we hope will be a very productive, candid, constructive conversation,” mentioned John Kirby, a White House spokesperson, to reporters touring aboard Air Force One.

Iran, Election Interference

During the assembly, which might final hours, Biden is predicted to press Xi to make use of China’s affect to induce Iran to not take provocative motion or encourage its proxies to enter the fray, to keep away from regional escalation of the Israel-Hamas battle.

He can also be anticipated to lift Chinese “influence operations” in overseas elections and the standing of U.S. residents that Washington believes are wrongly detained in China.

U.S. officers anticipated concrete steps to revive staff-level conversations between the 2 nations on a selected points from military-to-military communications to lowering the stream of fentanyl, managing the expansion of synthetic intelligence applied sciences, managing commerce and local weather. Many of the chemical compounds used to make fentanyl come from China, U.S. officers say.

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 in regards to the stability of U.S. democracy.

He 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.

Xi, a decade Biden’s junior, has tightened 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.

Government officers throughout the area anticipate Beijing to check Washington in coming weeks, benefiting from the United States’ perceived shift in focus on Ukraine and Israel, as it pursues its personal ambitions within the Indo-Pacific.

Biden is predicted to inform Xi that U.S. commitments within the Indo-Pacific are unchanged. China has nervous its neighbors lately with steps within the Taiwan Strait, South China Sea and East China Sea, areas of worldwide dispute. Biden can even categorical a selected dedication to the safety of the Philippines, one of many U.S. officers mentioned.