Could fear of embarrassment and China’s domestic woes keep Xi Jinping away from Apec summit?

Name: Joe Biden says US and Vietnam ‘deepening cooperation’
Uploaded: 2023-10-01T22:00:17.000Z
Duration: 3 min 13 s
Description: Joe Biden says US and Vietnam ‘deepening cooperation’

China has yet to confirm whether the Chinese president will attend November’s gathering in San Francisco – where a meeting with Biden was mooted

Even if he does not go, analysts say a desire for stability between China and the US has raised hopes that the leaders will talk

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Dewey Sim

Published: 6:00am, 2 Oct 2023

China’s domestic woes and the fear of being embarrassed by Washington could keep President Xi Jinping from meeting his American counterpart Joe Biden later this year, analysts said, as Beijing consider a summit between the two leaders.

But they suggested recent interactions between key Chinese and US officials as well as a “new-found desire” for stability on Beijing’s part had raised hopes for an eventual Xi-Biden meeting.

Sources earlier told the Post that the two rival countries were working on a diplomatic compromise that could pave the way for a meeting between the two leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in San Francisco later this year.

According to the sources, China has yet to confirm Xi’s attendance at the November gathering as it could not obtain certain commitments from the United States, including avoiding acts it deemed provocative.

On Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Beijing was “communicating with all parties” on Xi’s attendance at the summit and that a decision would be announced “in due course”.

Wang said China expected the US to demonstrate “openness, fairness, inclusivity and responsibility to create better conditions for a successful summit”.

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