Joe Biden feels it’s necessary to build a ‘floor’ for China’s relations. Biden is all set to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday on the sidelines of the G20 summit. This will be the first face-to-face meeting since meeting under the Obama administration.
An official during a press conference said, “The president believes it is critical to build a floor for the relationship and ensure that there are rules of the road that bound our competition.” The official continued, “I expect the president will be honest about a number of our concerns, including PRC (People’s Republic of China) activity that threatens peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, as well as our longstanding concerns about human rights violations.”
The official added that concerns over North Korea and Ukraine conflict will also be discussed.
Relations between US-China deteriorated to their worst points in decades, especially as a result of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan which China claims as its territory.
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In spite of concerns over Taiwan and the South China Sea and various other issues including trade, president Biden is working on maintaining stable relations with China.
The US president on Wednesday assured that he will not be making any fundamental concessions.
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However, before meeting with Xi, Biden will be meeting Japanese PM Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk-Yeol to discuss how to stop North Korea’s nuclear programme. North Korea has been recently conducting several nuclear tests. Beijing and Moscow earlier showed their support for restrictions but in May this year both rejected a US led-effort to impose additional UN sanctions on North Korea. Many believe that both did this to gain nuclear weapons from North Korea.
The meeting with Biden takes place as China’s economy struggles as a result of stringent Covid prevention efforts.
(With inputs from agencies)
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