On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden holds a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping that may ease tensions between the two superpowers over military conflicts, drug trafficking and artificial intelligence, according to Reuters.
Biden and Xi intend to discuss Taiwan, the South China Sea, the Israel-Hamas war, the war in Ukraine, North Korea and human rights. The leaders had previously failed to reach agreement in all of those areas.
They arrived in San Francisco on Tuesday for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. Leaders of the 21-nation group are meeting amid economic pressure from China, territorial strife with neighbours and a conflict in the Middle East that is distancing the United States from its allies.
Attempts to carefully schedule Xi Jinping’s visit could be thwarted in San Francisco as the route from the airport to the conference venue was crowded with demonstrators for and against the ruling Chinese Communist Party, an unusual sight for Xi Jinping, who last visited the United States in 2017.
Biden has sought direct diplomacy with Xi Jinping, betting that a personal relationship could salvage ties that have become increasingly hostile.
Chong Ja Ian, a political science professor at the National University of Singapore, noted that both sides are engaged in what Mao Zedong called “talk and fight, fight and talk” during the Chinese civil war.
That is, to talk while building up forces.
The leaders are to meet at Filoli Estate, located a few miles from San Francisco and carefully chosen for its safety, tranquility and remoteness.
“The table has been set…over the course of many weeks for what we hope will be a very productive, candid, constructive conversation.”
Biden is expected to influence Xi to urge Iran avoid provocative actions that could escalate the Israel-Hamas conflict into the Middle East. The US president will also raise the issue of alleged Chinese operations to influence elections in other countries, as well as the status of US citizens who Washington believes are wrongly detained in China.
US officials also expect concrete steps to restore staff-level talks between the two countries on issues ranging from interwar communications to reducing the flow of fentanyl, directing the development of artificial intelligence technology, as well as managing trade and climate.
According to US officials, many of the chemicals involved in the production of fentanyl come from China. Earlier, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called fentanyl the leading killer of Americans aged 18 to 49 and complained that China had stopped co-operating with the United States to solve the problem.
Both countries have backed a new renewable energy target, saying they will work to reduce methane and plastic pollution. Renewed climate co-operation was put on hold after former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in 2022.
Government officials across the region expect Beijing to test Washington in the coming weeks, taking advantage of the United States’ perceived shift in focus to Ukraine and Israel as they pursue their own ambitions in the Indo-Pacific.
Biden is expected to tell Xi Jinping that US commitments in the Indo-Pacific have not changed. In recent years, China has troubled its neighbours with its moves in the Taiwan Strait, South China Sea and East China Sea, areas of international disputes.
