A meeting in the San Francisco area to warm up relations. American President Joe Biden will welcome his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Wednesday, November 15, confirmed senior American officials, who believe that there is neither “conflict” nor “Cold War” with China. “Our goal will be to try to take steps that stabilize the relationship between the United States and China, remove some misunderstandings, and open new lines of communication,” a senior official said in an interview. Thursday with the press.
This will be the second in-person meeting between the two men since the election of Joe Biden, and their seventh conversation since that date. It will also be Xi Jinping’s first visit to the United States since 2017. At the same time, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit will take place in San Francisco, organized from November 12 to 18.
Taiwan, hot topic between the two powers
The American president wants to warn his counterpart that the Americans are “extremely concerned” about the idea of interference by Beijing in the presidential election in Taiwan in 2024, a senior American official said. She also estimated that the coming year, with this election but also a presidential election next November in the United States, could be “rather turbulent” for the relationship between Washington and Beijing.
Taiwan is one of the main areas of friction between the two superpowers, and China had also suspended most regular military communications with the United States in the summer of 2022, after a visit by the President of the House American representatives on the island.
The United States is “confident” before the meeting, said the senior official, praising America’s good economic health, as well as Washington’s intense diplomatic activity to strengthen its alliances in Asia.