Biden and Xi to meet as relations sink to lowest in decades
Biden has a stronger hand after Democrats clinch control of the Senate in midterm elections
13 November 2022 - 23:15
byNandita Bose, Simon Lewis and David Brunnstrom
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
US President Joe Biden speaks virtually with Chinese leader Xi Jinping from the White House in Washington, the US, November 15 2021. Picture: JONATHAN ERNST/ REUTERS
US President Joe Biden will meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping in person on Monday for the first time since taking office, with US concerns over Taiwan, Russia’s war in Ukraine and North Korea’s nuclear ambitions on top of his agenda.
The long-awaited in-person meeting comes as relations between the superpowers have sunk to their lowest in decades. The two will meet on the Indonesian island of Bali ahead of the annual Group of 20 (G20) summit gathering leaders of the world’s major developed and emerging economies.
Biden goes into the meeting on the back of a major domestic victory with Democrats clinching control of the Senate, a development acknowledged by global leaders, while Xi secured an unprecedented third term in office last month.
"I know I’m coming in stronger but I don’t need that. I know Xi Jinping, I spent more time with him than any other world leader." Biden said in Cambodia on Sunday after the Senate results. "There’s never any miscalculation about … where each of us stands."
The US president, who is on a whirlwind trip with stops at an international climate summit in Egypt and an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) meeting in Cambodia ahead of G20, is hoping to build a "floor for the relationship" with China and ensure there are rules that bound competition between the two nations.
Biden recently said he was unwilling to make any fundamental concessions when he meets Xi, and that he wanted both leaders to lay out their "red lines" and resolve areas of conflict.
The meeting is unlikely to produce concrete results and no joint statement is expected, the White House has said, but it could help stabilise ties marked by growing tensions over issues from Hong Kong and Taiwan to the South China Sea, coercive trade practices and US restrictions on Chinese technology.
Biden and Xi, who have held five phone or video calls since Biden took office in January 2021, last met in person during the Obama administration. Strains flared especially after US House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s August trip to Taiwan, the self-governed democratic island that Beijing claims as its territory.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the meeting could run for two hours or more, and Biden would be "totally straightforward and direct" in the conversation.
"The president sees the US and China as being engaged in a stiff competition, but that competition should not tip over into conflict or confrontation," Sullivan told reporters, promising Biden comments afterwards. He said Biden would also look for areas where the US and China could work together, including climate change or public health.
The two leaders know each other well and spent time together in the US and China in 2011 and 2012 when both were serving as their respective countries’ vice-presidents.
Economic policies
Beijing, frustrated by what it sees as the Biden administration’s weaponisation of economic policies, has sought to expand ties with Europe and Africa. Xi’s government has also criticised the Biden administration’s posture towards Taiwan as undermining China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The Chinese president has also suggested that Washington wants to stifle Beijing’s growing influence as it tries to overtake the US as the world’s largest economy.
Monday’s meeting comes weeks after the Biden administration unveiled a new national security strategy that sees an increasingly authoritarian China as the most consequential challenge to the global order.
"The Biden administration will try to kill two birds with one stone — enlist Chinese support on issues like reining in North Korea and climate change — to create some basis for co-operation between China and the US," said Oriana Skylar Mastro, a China expert at Stanford University.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Biden and Xi to meet as relations sink to lowest in decades
Biden has a stronger hand after Democrats clinch control of the Senate in midterm elections
US President Joe Biden will meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping in person on Monday for the first time since taking office, with US concerns over Taiwan, Russia’s war in Ukraine and North Korea’s nuclear ambitions on top of his agenda.
The long-awaited in-person meeting comes as relations between the superpowers have sunk to their lowest in decades. The two will meet on the Indonesian island of Bali ahead of the annual Group of 20 (G20) summit gathering leaders of the world’s major developed and emerging economies.
Biden goes into the meeting on the back of a major domestic victory with Democrats clinching control of the Senate, a development acknowledged by global leaders, while Xi secured an unprecedented third term in office last month.
"I know I’m coming in stronger but I don’t need that. I know Xi Jinping, I spent more time with him than any other world leader." Biden said in Cambodia on Sunday after the Senate results. "There’s never any miscalculation about … where each of us stands."
The US president, who is on a whirlwind trip with stops at an international climate summit in Egypt and an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) meeting in Cambodia ahead of G20, is hoping to build a "floor for the relationship" with China and ensure there are rules that bound competition between the two nations.
Biden recently said he was unwilling to make any fundamental concessions when he meets Xi, and that he wanted both leaders to lay out their "red lines" and resolve areas of conflict.
The meeting is unlikely to produce concrete results and no joint statement is expected, the White House has said, but it could help stabilise ties marked by growing tensions over issues from Hong Kong and Taiwan to the South China Sea, coercive trade practices and US restrictions on Chinese technology.
Biden and Xi, who have held five phone or video calls since Biden took office in January 2021, last met in person during the Obama administration. Strains flared especially after US House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s August trip to Taiwan, the self-governed democratic island that Beijing claims as its territory.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the meeting could run for two hours or more, and Biden would be "totally straightforward and direct" in the conversation.
"The president sees the US and China as being engaged in a stiff competition, but that competition should not tip over into conflict or confrontation," Sullivan told reporters, promising Biden comments afterwards. He said Biden would also look for areas where the US and China could work together, including climate change or public health.
The two leaders know each other well and spent time together in the US and China in 2011 and 2012 when both were serving as their respective countries’ vice-presidents.
Economic policies
Beijing, frustrated by what it sees as the Biden administration’s weaponisation of economic policies, has sought to expand ties with Europe and Africa. Xi’s government has also criticised the Biden administration’s posture towards Taiwan as undermining China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The Chinese president has also suggested that Washington wants to stifle Beijing’s growing influence as it tries to overtake the US as the world’s largest economy.
Monday’s meeting comes weeks after the Biden administration unveiled a new national security strategy that sees an increasingly authoritarian China as the most consequential challenge to the global order.
"The Biden administration will try to kill two birds with one stone — enlist Chinese support on issues like reining in North Korea and climate change — to create some basis for co-operation between China and the US," said Oriana Skylar Mastro, a China expert at Stanford University.
Reuters
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Most Read
Related Articles
Senate victory is vindication of Democrats’ agenda, says Schumer
US blocks Chinese solar shipments amid slave labour concerns
Putin will not attend Group of 20 summit in person, officials confirm
China undermines rules-based order, says US VP
Putin admits Xi has questions and concerns over Ukraine
Published by Arena Holdings and distributed with the Financial Mail on the last Thursday of every month except December and January.