United States President Joe Biden aims to have “constructive” talks with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on the sidelines of a summit in California in November, said the White House, on Tuesday (Oct 31) ahead of an expected meeting between the two leaders.
Biden administration officials also said that the teams of the leaders have an agreement in principle for the meeting on the sidelines of the upcoming Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum which will be held in San Francisco.
Will Biden and Xi meet?
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre at her daily press briefing said that the two leaders aim to have a “constructive conversation” on the sidelines of the summit.
“There is an agreement in principle to meet in San Francisco in November. We are still working through important details needed to finalize those plans,” said the White House official.
However, China has not yet confirmed that Xi will come. The remarks also came days after China’s top diplomat Wang Yi made a rare visit to Washington to pave the way for Xi to meet Biden at the upcoming summit.
“The president has said that he fully expects to meet again with President Xi. These are two guys that have a long-standing relationship and we’re confident that that’s going to happen,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby had said during Wang’s visit on Friday (Oct 27).
Wang’s visit to Washington
China’s top diplomat met with several senior US officials last week and the White House has said that the two sides are “working together towards a meeting”. However, Wang over the weekend said that the road to talks was still “not smooth.”
During an event in Washington hosted by the Aspen Strategy Group, China’s foreign minister said that “both sides hope to stabilize and improve bilateral relations as soon as possible and agreed to work together toward a San Francisco summit between the two heads of state,” reported the Chinese state news agency Xinhua.
He added, “The path to San Francisco is not smooth and cannot be left to ‘autopilot’”. Wang, as per Xinhua, also said that both sides must “eliminate interference, overcome obstacles, enhance consensus and accumulate results.”
(With inputs from agencies)
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