Xi, Biden could meet in November in South-east Asia: Report
Chinese and US officials have been discussing a possible face-to-face meeting between President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Joe Biden, with a report suggesting that two regional summits in South-east Asia in November are potential venues for the talks.
“I can confirm that the two leaders… discussed a possible face-to-face meeting during their recent call and agreed to have their teams follow up to sort out the specifics,” said Kurt Campbell, Biden’s top adviser for Indo-Pacific affairs.
Xi could attend the Group of 20 (G-20) summit in Bali from Nov 15 to 16, according to the report. The G-20 is an intergovernmental forum of 19 countries and the European Union.
He is also expected to travel to Bangkok to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit, a gathering of 21 Pacific rim countries, two days later.
If the visit does happen, it would take place after the Communist Party of China congress in autumn, at which Xi is expected to seek an unprecedented third term in power, suggesting that the Chinese leader is confident he would remain in power.
The trip would also be the first time Xi is traveling outside of China since the country restricted travel in and out of its borders because of the pandemic. His last overseas trip was to Myanmar in January 2020.
The meeting between the two leaders would come at a time when relations between their countries are under great strain over the recent visit to Taiwan by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Washington will continue to keep lines of communication open with Beijing, said Campbell. He also called on China to reopen channels of cooperation with the US, saying “this is what the world demands of responsible powers”.
Professor Zhu Feng, dean of the Institute of International Relations at Nanjing University, said the fact that discussions are still under way for the two leaders to meet indicated that both sides recognized they should stop relations from sliding further.
He pointed out that after the last Taiwan Strait crisis in 1996, when China lobbed missiles into the waters near Taiwan ahead of the island’s first direct presidential election, then President Jiang Zemin made a high-profile visit to the US in 1997.
The following year, his US counterpart Bill Clinton visited China. The two visits ended a chill in bilateral relations.
“This latest Taiwan Strait crisis is a very stark reminder to both sides,” said Prof Zhu. “The most important thing about a crisis like this is that both sides need to… recognize the importance of keeping relations stable.”
SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES