Xi Jinping will attend the G20 summit in Indonesia next week and meet his US counterpart Joe Biden, Beijing’s foreign ministry confirmed on Friday in their first face-to-face talks since the Chinese president sealed a historic third term as head of state last month.
The two met before Biden took office in January 2021 and have spoken on the phone several times since then, but the Covid-19 pandemic and Xi’s subsequent dislike of foreign travel have prevented them from meeting in person.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a regular press briefing that Xi will meet Bali Biden and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron next week between November 14 and 17, as well as Macky Sall of Senegal and Alberto Fernandez of Argentina.
He will then travel to Thailand on Nov. 17-19 to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, Zhao confirmed.
The White House has previously announced that Biden will meet with Xi on Monday when the “leaders will discuss efforts to maintain and deepen lines of communication” and how “competition can be managed responsibly and worked together when our interests are aligned.”
The US and China enjoy massive investment and trade ties, but also challenge each other’s military and diplomatic influence, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region.
They also face a potential flashpoint over the self-governing island of Taiwan, a close US ally that Xi has made clear he believes should be under Beijing’s control.
On Wednesday, Biden said he had already made it clear to Xi that he was “seeking competition, not conflict,” adding that they would be discussing Taiwan, but the US stance on the island had “not changed at all.”
– Video Link Diplomacy –
After nearly three years of self-imposed pandemic isolation, during which international diplomacy was conducted largely via video link, China is now looking to strengthen its global alliances – particularly with developing countries – in the face of increasing competition with the US and a world destabilized by the Ukraine war.
A spate of state visits to China this month has highlighted the importance of maintaining trade and other diplomatic ties — even as China acts more confidently to defend its interests.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz defied fierce domestic criticism when he visited Beijing last Friday with a business delegation in tow and vowed to deepen trade cooperation with China while raising contentious issues like the Ukraine war.
His visit capped a series of trips by leaders of Pakistan, Tanzania and the Vietnamese Communist Party — the most numerous face-to-face meetings Xi has held since hosting more than a dozen world leaders at the Beijing Olympics in February.
France’s foreign minister said last week that Macron is likely to visit China in the coming months.
