White House says Joe Biden and Xi Jinping to meet at G20 summit

Taiwan is a potential flashpoint when the US president and his Chinese counterpart ‘discuss efforts to maintain and deepen lines of communication’ at face-to-face talks in Bali.

Amid tensions over Taiwan, US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping have agreed to meet in a face-to-face summit. Pictures: Agencies

Joe Biden will meet Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Monday on the sidelines of the G20 summit, the White House said overnight on Thursday, announcing their first face-to-face talks since Mr Biden became President.

The two met before Mr Biden took office and have spoken by phone several times over the past 22 months, but the pandemic and Mr Xi’s aversion to foreign travel have prevented them from meeting in person.

“The leaders will discuss ­efforts to maintain and deepen lines of communication” as well as how to “responsibly manage competition and work together where our interests align”, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said.

Their proposed meeting during the summit in Bali comes after Mr Xi last month was awarded a landmark third term as Chinese Communist Party general secretary. Mr Biden, meanwhile, could have a tougher road ahead for the next two years after Tuesday’s midterm elections likely left Republicans in control of one, if not both, of the chambers of the US congress.

Still, Mr Biden is heading into the trip “with the wind at his back”, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Thursday, with “an excellent opportunity both to deal with competitors from a strong position and to rally allies”.

The US and China have a massive investment and trade relationship but are also challenging each other’s military and diplomatic influence, especially in the Asia-Pacific region.

They also face a potential flashpoint over democratic Taiwan, a close ally of the US that Mr Xi has made clear he believes should be under Beijing’s control.

On Wednesday, Mr Biden said he has already made clear to Mr Xi he is “looking for competition, not conflict”.

Xi Jinping last month was awarded a landmark third term as Chinese Communist Party General Secretary. Picture: Getty Images

Mr Biden said they will discuss Taiwan, but added the US stance on the island “has not changed at all from the very ­beginning”.

Also on the menu are stepped-up missile test launches by North Korea, which the US and allies consider a growing threat to East Asia.

Washington wants Beijing to pressure North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to reel back its ­activities and engage in talks on denuclearisation.

The two countries have also dealt with tension in recent months as Mr Biden would like to see Beijing distance itself from Moscow amid Russia’s war in Ukraine.

But according to Mr Sullivan, the US has not seen China sending weapons for use on the battlefield since Mr Biden and Mr Xi’s last conversation. “And we have not seen wholesale ­efforts to backfill or undermine the sanctions regime,” he said.

Mr Biden said on Wednesday he would like to “understand what (Xi) believes to be in the critical national interests of China, what I know to be the critical interests of the United States, and to determine whether or not they conflict with one another’’.

“And if they do, how to ­resolve it and how to work it out.”

According to Mr Sullivan, Mr Biden and Mr Xi “actually do have a robust back-and-forth’’.

“That bigger-picture conversation is probably the most important element of this meeting,” he said, cautioning against ­expectations of any “specific ­deliverables” coming out of the conversation.

AFP