G20 Summit: US President Biden To Meet Xi Jinping In Bali On 14 Nov

US President Joe Biden will meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit in Indonesia on 14 November, where they will discuss ways to collaborate where their interests align, particularly on transnational challenges affecting the international community, the White House announced on Thursday.

The meeting takes place amid the two countries' fractious relationship.

The Leaders will discuss efforts to maintain and deepen communication channels between the US and the PRC (People's Republic of China), responsibly manage competition and collaborate where our interests align, particularly on transnational challenges affecting the international community, according to White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

According to Pierre, the two Leaders will also discuss a variety of regional and global issues.

This would be their first in-person meeting after Biden becomes President of the United States in January 2021. The two leaders have talked on the phone up to five times.

Xi's last face-to-face meeting with a US leader occurred in June 2019, when he reached an agreement with former President Donald Trump that resulted in a trade agreement six months later. As Covid-19 spread around the world, bilateral ties began to deteriorate.

During a two-hour call in late July, Biden and Xi discussed the possibility of a face-to-face meeting.

Since then, tensions have risen in response to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan. The White House described China's subsequent military drills as an “unprecedented pressure campaign” for the self-governed island that China claims as its own.

China sanctioned Pelosi and began live-fire military drills around the island. Beijing, on the other hand, blamed Biden for failing to intervene. Xi terminated talks with the administration on a number of critical issues, including counter-narcotics and climate change.

Biden has also enraged Beijing by repeatedly implying that the US will defend Taiwan if it is attacked by China.

The White House has said repeatedly that the remarks do not represent a shift in US policy, but China got furious. 

The Biden administration also imposed broad restrictions on the sale of advanced chips to China, in an effort to keep the US technologically ahead of Beijing.

President Biden has made it a priority throughout his presidency to maintain open lines of communication with the PRC at all levels in order to responsibly manage the competition between our two countries, a senior administration official told reporters during a conference call.

The meeting will take place as part of the ongoing effort to establish and manage relationships with China. According to the official, Biden believes face-to-face diplomacy is the only way to move these discussions forward.

According to the official, Biden has known Xi for quite some time. As a result, we anticipate these meetings to be an in-depth and substantive conversations between the leaders, with a better understanding of one another's priorities and intentions.