US, China ‘working towards’ Biden-Xi meeting next month on Apec sidelines, White House says
- Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to Washington lays the groundwork for the two leaders to meet in San Francisco
- Biden tells Wang that the nations’ competitive relationship should be be handled ‘responsibly’ and that lines of communication must stay open
US and Chinese officials are “working together toward” a meeting between US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping next month, the White House said on Friday, the latest indication from Washington that the highly anticipated gathering will take place.
“The two sides reaffirmed their desire to maintain this strategic channel of communication and to pursue additional high-level diplomacy, including working together towards a meeting” between the two leaders at the Apec summit in San Francisco, according to a White House readout of White House Security Advisor Jake Sullivan’s meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
Wang met with Biden, Sullivan and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken over two days of negotiations in the US capital.
“I think we are making preparations for just such a meeting,” a senior Biden administration official told reporters in a conference call, adding that “Chinese leaders often confirm publicly much closer to a trip, so I will leave it to the Chinese side to figure out if and when they make that announcement”.
“I would just say on our side at least, we are working together towards that goal and making preparations on our side,” she said.
During the “candid and in-depth” talks between Blinken and Wang, which totaled more than six hours, Blinken underscored the need to resume military-to-military channels, according to another senior Biden administration official on the call.
Such military communications had been largely frozen since then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the self-ruled island Taiwan last August.