Biden and Xi will meet as US-China relations are tested by Trump’s return

By AAMER MADHANI

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will hold talks with China on Saturday Xi Jinping on the sidelines of an international summit in Peru, a face-to-face meeting taking place as Beijing braces itself Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

A senior Biden administration official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity ahead of the formal announcement, confirmed plans for the meeting to take place while the two leaders are in Lima for the meeting. Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit. That will happen just over two months before Trump’s inauguration.

The official declined to comment on how Biden and his advisers would answer questions sure to be raised by Xi and Chinese officials about the incoming Trump administration, or whether Biden would discuss the U.S.-China relationship with Trump during the upcoming elections. visit of the president-elect to the White House on Wednesday.

The official would only say that the next administration will have to “find ways to manage that difficult, complicated relationship.”

Trump promised this during his campaign against Vice President Kamala Harris to introduce general rates of 60% on all Chinese exports to the US, a move that would upend the already tumultuous relationship between Beijing and Washington.

Washington and Beijing have long had deep differences the support China has given to Russia during the war in Ukraine, human rights issues, technology and Taiwan, the self-governing democracy that Beijing claims as its own. There will be a second Trump administration is expected to test US-China relations even more than during the Republican’s first term, when the US imposed tariffs on more than $360 billion of Chinese products.

That brought Beijing to the negotiating table, and in 2020, the two sides signed a trade agreement in which China committed to improving intellectual property rights and purchasing an additional $200 billion worth of American goods. A few years later, a research group showed that China actually didn’t buy anything of the goods it had promised.

The White House has been working for months to arrange a final meeting between Xi and Biden before the Democrat leaves office in January.

White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan traveled to Beijing in late August to meet with his Chinese counterpart sat down with Xi. Afterwards, Sullivan indicated there could be a final meeting between Xi and Biden at APEC or at the Group of 20 top economies summit next week in Rio de Janeiro, where both leaders are expected to attend.

Biden has sought to maintain a steady relationship with Xi even as his administration has repeatedly raised concerns about what it sees as malign actions by Beijing.

US intelligence officials have assessed China has increased sales to Russia enormously of machine tools, microelectronics and other technology that Moscow uses to produce missiles, tanks, aircraft and other weapons for use in its war against Ukraine. The government last month imposed sanctions on two Chinese companies accused of directly helping Russia build long-range attack drones used against Ukraine.

Tensions flared last year after Biden ordered the shooting down of a Chinese spy balloon flying over the United States. And the Biden administration has criticized Chinese military assertiveness toward Japan, the Philippines and Taiwan.

During his campaign, Trump spoke of his personal bond with Xi, which started off well during his first term before coming under strain over disputes over trade and the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a congratulatory message to Trump after his victory over Harris, Xi called on the US and China to manage their differences and get along in a new era, Chinese state media said.

Biden, in turn, is expected to focus the meeting with Xi on efforts to stem the flow of Chinese-produced chemicals used to make fentanyl, concerns about Beijing’s indirect support for Russia’s war in Ukraine , address concerns about cybersecurity and the importance of sustaining military operations. -to-military communications.

Saturday’s talks will be the third meeting between Biden and Xi during Biden’s presidency. They met last November in Woodside, California, on the sidelines of the 2023 APEC Summit, and the leaders last spoke by phone.

Originally published: November 13, 2024 at 11:44 AM CST