Any US-China detente won by Xi and Biden’s G20 talks ‘could be brief’
- With both sides striking a conciliatory tone, hopes are growing for a meeting between the two leaders but experts warn not to expect too much
- While the Chinese president has consolidated his powers, his US counterpart could be weakened by the midterms and prey to Washington’s hawks
Over the past week, both leaders and their top diplomats have been striking a conciliatory tone and stressing the need to keep communication lines open, fuelling speculation that their much-anticipated meeting will happen during the Group of 20 summit in Bali from November 15.
Beijing has yet to officially confirm either Xi’s attendance at the summit or a meeting with Biden, who will be in Bali from November 13 to 16. The two leaders have spoken and met virtually several times in the past 20 months and in July agreed to explore the possibility of a face-to-face meeting.
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby confirmed last week that teams from both sides were working to arrange the possible meeting. “There’s an awful lot of issues for us to talk to China about. Some issues are fairly contentious and some should be collaborative,” he said.
The face-to-face meeting would be the pair’s first since Biden took office in January 2021 and could usher in a spell of detente between the rival powers, after months of rancorous feuds over Taiwan, human rights and export controls on microchips.
But any detente may not last long, with pundits predicting that Xi’s tightening grip on China’s ruling Communist Party could alarm and even galvanise the China hawks in Washington, just as the Biden administration could be weakened by the looming midterm elections.
Polls show Democrats at risk of losing one or both chambers of Congress in the midterm elections on November 8.