President Biden‘s much-anticipated meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping is scheduled for next Wednesday in the San Francisco Bay Area, signaling a critical juncture in the complex and strained relations between the two global powers. Despite not expected to result in a major breakthrough, the fact that the meeting is happening at all is viewed as a positive sign by White House aides after months of friction.
Ambitious Goals Amidst Global Challenges
As the world grapples with a cascading conflict in the Middle East and an ongoing war in Ukraine, President Biden aims to prevent another global crisis on his watch. The talks aim to develop a “framework” for managing successful competitive relations, clearing up misperceptions, and avoiding surprises. While Biden’s aides approach the summit with realistic expectations, they hope to address a myriad of issues, including restoring military-to-military communication, conflicts in Israel and Ukraine, climate change cooperation, countering narcotics trafficking, and disagreements over human rights issues and military escalation in the South China Sea and around Taiwan.
Managing Strained Relations and Key Sticking Points Between Xi Jinping and President Biden
Despite a once warm personal relationship cultivated during their time as vice presidents, Biden and Xi have overseen a deterioration in US-China relations, reaching their lowest point in decades. Key sticking points include Taiwan, with China’s Communist Party claiming it as its own and vowing to take it by force if necessary. The relationship has also been strained by new limits on advanced technology exports to China, imposed by Biden in the name of national security. The US has pressured China to play a more constructive role in global conflicts, including the Israel-Hamas conflict and the Russia-Ukraine war, pushing the country to step up on the world stage.
The Wednesday summit, occurring amid a gathering of Pacific leaders in California, has been months in the making, requiring intensive preparations on both sides. Despite the challenges, the meeting is seen as an opportunity to manage and stabilize the bilateral relationship, improve communication, and reduce misunderstandings before they occur. This marks only the second in-person meeting between Biden and Xi over the last three years, following their encounter a year ago on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali, aimed at establishing a baseline for the relationship amid heightened economic and military tension.
Departure from Indonesian Stalemate
The upcoming meeting between President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping is poised to be a pivotal moment in the fraught relations between the two global superpowers. The diplomatic rollercoaster began when the two leaders appeared to be on the path to more regular talks after a visit to the Indonesian island. However, hopes for normalizing ties were dashed when a standoff over a suspected Chinese spy balloon unfolded, leading to months of strained relations.
Tensions Escalate: Communication Cut-off and Military Concerns
Last summer, tension reached a boiling point when then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, prompting Beijing to abruptly cut off communication with the US military. The sudden silence raised concerns among American officials about the potential for miscommunication or miscalculation in the highly contested areas of the South China Sea and around Taiwan. Efforts to restore military channels have been slow and halting, despite visits from key Biden administration officials to Beijing, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
Signs of Thaw: Diplomatic Maneuvers and Positive Signals
Recent diplomatic maneuvers have injected a sense of optimism into the strained relationship. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to Washington last month included meetings with top US officials, such as National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and even President Biden at the White House. In a bid to further thaw relations, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen invited Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, often referred to as the country’s “economic tsar,” for a two-day meeting starting Thursday.
As the summit approaches, a senior Chinese official, Vice President Han Zheng, expressed Beijing’s readiness to improve ties with Washington. Speaking at a Bloomberg forum in Singapore, Han remarked that recent high-level meetings have sent “positive signals” and have heightened international expectations for an improvement in China-US relations. He stated, “We are ready to strengthen communication and dialogue with the United States at all levels, promote mutually beneficial cooperation, properly manage differences, and jointly address global challenges.”
With the stage set for the Biden-Xi Jinping summit, there is cautious optimism that the meeting could pave the way for the reopening of military communication channels and, more broadly, for a reset in the strained relations between the United States and China. The international community watches with bated breath as the leaders navigate the complexities of their geopolitical relationship in the hope of fostering stability and cooperation on the global stage.
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