US and Chinese officials have agreed in principle on a meeting next month between Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping, though the two sides must still finalize the arrangements, according to an American official.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter, added that details of the get-together, which would likely occur during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco in November, were still being worked out. China’s embassy to the US cited the city as a possible venue.
Another person familiar with the discussions, who spoke on condition of anonymity, cautioned that the two sides are still working toward an agreement for the leaders to meet.
The potential breakthrough follows this week’s visit by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who held two days of meetings in Washington with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan — and also met with Biden on Friday at the White House.
US officials have been eager to announce a meeting between Biden and Xi, who have not spoken since they last met at the Group of 20 summit in Bali, Indonesia almost a year ago. Officials from the world’s two largest economies have been working for months to set up a leaders’ sit-down around the APEC summit.
“The two sides agreed to make joint efforts to clinch a meeting between the two heads of state in San Francisco,” the Chinese Embassy in Washington said in a statement on the meeting between Sullivan and Wang.
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Biden administration officials who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity Friday, described the discussions with Wang, which lasted more than six hours as frank, as touching on issues including Beijing’s policies in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong; disputes in the South China Sea; and counter-narcotics efforts. Biden met for one hour with Wang and stressed the importance of the two countries communicating and managing competition responsibly, they said.
Chinese officials indicated that they plan to work toward a Biden-Xi meeting, said another US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to detail the discussions. The US official characterized the conversations with Wang as touching on all elements of US-China ties as well as broader geopolitical flashpoints such as the Israel-Hamas conflict and as positive and professional.
The US warned China in the talks about backing Iran and the threat of a wider war in the Middle East and Washington and Beijing are more aligned on working together to head off a potential escalation in that region, the US official said.
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China’s discussions with the US are increasingly focused on economic issues, including their concerns over technology sanctions, the official said, expressing Beijing’s worries that the US will hold back the country’s development.
In the talks with Wang, the US pressed China to take a more constructive approach in the Middle East, according to the officials, where the Biden administration is seeking to keep the Israel-Hamas war from escalating.
China has been urging a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. Beijing has also continued to supply Moscow with aid to support its war in Ukraine, US officials said, though, there’s no evidence so far that Beijing has crossed the line of providing lethal support.
Despite the extensive dialogue with Wang this week, the officials said the increased diplomacy with China did not signal a change in the administration’s approach to Beijing.
Relations deteriorated sharply after Biden and Xi met last year in Bali, hitting a low after a US military aircraft shot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon and virtually all channels of communication were cut off.
A flurry of diplomacy in recent months has seen the relationship move to a better footing, with Biden dispatching a number of Cabinet officials to Beijing.
Still, there have been fresh flashpoints, including in June when Biden made remarks likening Xi to a dictator — remarks which China called a provocation. In August, Biden delivered another barb, calling China’s economic problems a “ticking time bomb.”
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The two countries also have fundamental disagreements over their technological ambitions.
Biden has moved to restrict exports on advanced semiconductors as well as chipmaking gear to China to prevent it from gaining cutting-edge technologies.
China has denounced the US strategy as one of “containment.”
