Apec summit: Xi Jinping and Joe Biden set venue for meeting in bid to stabilise China-US relations
- The pair will meet at Filoli, a private country estate in California, that was once the set for the 1980s soap opera Dynasty
- Talks are expected to last for four to five hours, and are set to include a landmark deal on the governance of AI
The two leaders are scheduled to meet at 10.45am on Wednesday local time (6.45pm GMT) at Filoli, an estate located in Woodside, California, approximately 40km (25 miles) south of San Francisco, a source told the South China Morning Post.
Xi will be accorded a state visit-level reception by the US side, according to the source, who added that Washington had offered this without being asked.
The estate, which is known for the filming location for the hit 1980s American television drama Dynasty, was established as a private residence in 1917 and was acquired by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1975.
After Biden welcomes Xi to the estate, the formal meeting will begin at 11am, according to the White House. It is expected to last for four or five hours, with a press conference by the US President scheduled for 4.15pm.
The pair are also believed to have reached agreement on other issues such as increasing the number of direct flights, health research and tackling the fentanyl crisis in the United States.
Asked how he would measure success at the talks with Xi, Biden said on Tuesday: “To get back on a normal course – corresponding and being able to pick up the phone and talk to one another in a crisis – and being able to make sure that our militaries still have contact with one another.”
Expectations are low that the meeting will result in any substantial shift in US-China relations, but it is seen as crucial in defining its dynamics in the coming months because the US election cycle is likely to leave little room for another meeting between the two leaders next year.
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Xi-Biden summit venue was site of 80s US TV drama ‘Dynasty’
The talks are taking place on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, which also provides Xi opportunities to meet with leaders from neighbouring countries such as Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
The area around the Moscone Centre in San Francisco, where delegations from 21 countries and territories, will meet was walled off by tall black fences. And on some streets local police, California Highway Patrol, Secret Service and for-hire security guards outnumbered pedestrians.
Xi landed at San Francisco International Airport at about 2.35 pm local time on Tuesday and was greeted by US officials who have visited Beijing in the run-up for his visit.
They included California governor Gavin Newsom, his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and Washington’s ambassador to Beijing Nicholas Burns.
‘Trust, but verify’: Biden’s pragmatic stance offers hope ahead of Xi meeting
While lacking a red carpet, the reception – described as “warm” by China’s state broadcaster CCTV – included a small honour guard.
CCTV’s footage of Xi’s arrival showed that his entourage included his chief-of-staff Cai Qi, China’s top diplomat Wang Yi, the Central Policy Research Office director Jiang Jinquan, head of the country’s top economic planning agency Zheng Shanjie, commerce minister Wang Wentao and executive vice-minister of foreign affairs Ma Zhaoxu.
Newsom met Xi in Beijing three weeks ago during his week-long trip to China.
In that meeting, Xi spoke about his “deep” impressions of the Golden State, saying that “when I first went to the US 38 years ago, my first stop was in San Francisco”.
Yellen posted a photo of her talking to Xi on the airport’s runway on X, formerly Twitter, adding that she was “glad to welcome President Xi Jinping to California”.
Xi is slated to attend a dinner on Wednesday night with leaders of the American business community. The fee for a seat at the same table as Xi is as high as US$40,000, with tickets in strong demand.
The venue for the banquet has not been made public and even those attending will only be told a few hours in advance.
Apec summit: risks of upset to ‘fragile stability’ as Xi, Biden prepare to meet
The Post has also learned that the Chinese side had asked for the event to be significantly scaled down.
Meanwhile, Mike Gallagher, the Republican chairman of the US House Select Committee on China, slammed the dinner saying it was “unconscionable” for American companies to pay thousands of dollars for dinner with Xi.
He asked Stephen Orlins, president of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, and Craig Allen, president of the US-China Business Council, to publish by next Tuesday the names of those who had bought tickets and how the profits will be distributed among the organisations hosting the event .
