Will Joe Biden meet Xi Jinping at G20 Summit? ‘If he’s there’, says POTUS amid tensions
On September 6, US President Joe Biden expressed optimism in meeting his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the upcoming G20 summit in Bali this fall.
On September 6, US President Joe Biden expressed optimism in meeting his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the upcoming G20 summit in Bali this fall. The brief remarks came as tensions between the United States and China soared over Taiwan, human rights, trade disputes, and other issues.
US president’s statement also provided one of the clearest indications in recent weeks that Biden has not ruled out a direct, in-person meeting with his Chinese counterpart, despite the fact that the two countries’ damaged relationship shows few, if any, signs of improvement.
At White House, Biden told reporters, “If he’s (Xi Jinping) there, I’m sure I’ll see him.”
The last time Biden and Xi spoke on the phone was on July 28 while tensions between the two sides were already very high. At the time, both leaders stated that they were committed to meeting in person. After their chat, a high-ranking member of the US government reported that Washington and Beijing were “working out a conversation about a face-to-face meeting.”
US-China Ties
Five days later, tensions between the two greatest economies in the world reached a boiling point when US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei. China then started a series of days-long military exercises around the autonomous island. Beijing wants Taiwan to be a part of its own territory and has not ruled out using force to seize control of the island.
There was also a significant deterioration in relations between the two countries as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and former US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports. The investigation into whether the COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed over 1 million Americans, was sparked by a lab leak in the Chinese city of Wuhan is being rebuffed by Xi’s administration.
Beijing apparently stopped working with the US last month to stop the illegal fentanyl exports that were to blame for the record 107,000 drug overdose deaths in the US in 2021. Trump administration has also put sanctions against Chinese officials over the CCP’s elimination of Hong Kong’s political autonomy and the treatment of ethnic Uyghurs in northwest China.
While the White House continues a protracted review of whether to outlaw Chinese-owned social media network TikTok, one of the most well-liked platforms among young Americans, Biden is considering lifting Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods, which were imposed in an effort to force a trade deal limiting Beijing’s support to local industries.
