White House officials have confirmed that President Biden will be meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping this month in an effort to ease tensions between the two countries.
Biden and Xi are scheduled to meet in San Francisco’s Bay Area on Nov. 15, according to White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
“President Biden will meet with President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on November 15,” the press secretary announced Friday. “The Leaders will discuss issues in the U.S.-PRC bilateral relationship, the continued importance of maintaining open lines of communication, and a range of regional and global issues.”
U.S. President Joe Biden, right, and Chinese President Xi Jinping last shook hands before their meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit meeting in Nusa Dua, in Bali, Indonesia. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Biden and Xi last spoke in Nov. 2022 on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia, where they agreed more direct communication between U.S. and Chinese leadership was desirable.
Jean-Pierre continued, “Building on their last meeting in November 2022 in Bali, Indonesia, the Leaders will also discuss how the United States and the PRC can continue to responsibly manage competition and work together where our interests align, particularly on transnational challenges that affect the international community.”
The White House has previously stressed the importance and mutual benefit of “competition” between the U.S. and China, characterizing the meeting as “intense diplomacy” and a “tough conversation.”
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President Joe Biden speaks about the economy and the deal between the United Auto Workers (UAW) Union and the big-three automakers, in Belvidere, Illinois. (OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images)
The meeting is an attempt by the Biden administration to cool tempers between the US and China after almost a year of negative diplomacy.
Sino-U.S. relations soured intensely early this year after the Biden administration discovered the presence of Chinese spy craft in U.S. airspace and shot it down over the Atlantic Ocean.
China has also taken offense to U.S. strategic ambiguity on the Taiwan Independence issue, refusing to acknowledge the island’s claim to sovereignty while still sending diplomatic missions to meet with the Taiwanese leadership.
Chinese President Xi Jinping addresses the Global Trade in Services Summit of the 2023 China International Fair for Trade in Services CIFTIS via video in Beijing, capital of China, (Liu Bin/Xinhua via Getty Images)
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The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the violent conflict between Hamas and Israel have also complicated relations as the US and China jostle for strategic diplomatic positions on the conflicts.
