Biden, China's Xi expected to meet virtually on Monday - sources
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[November 12, 2021]
By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe
Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are expected to hold a virtual
summit on Monday, sources said, amid tensions over trade, human rights
and military activities.
Washington and Beijing have been sparring on issues from the origins of
the COVID-19 pandemic to China's expanding nuclear arsenal. U.S.
officials believe direct engagement with Xi is the best way to prevent
the relationship between the world’s two biggest economies from
spiraling toward conflict.
Beijing is also keen to avoid confrontation and focus on "positive
competition," while pushing for cooperation on issues such the climate
crisis and ending the coronavirus pandemic, said one Chinese official.
A framework deal on boosting cooperation to tackle climate change,
unveiled by the world's two largest economies at the U.N. climate
conference in Scotland, sent "quite a positive signal" for the upcoming
summit, the official said.
"We view U.S.-China competition like a golf game, where each side
focuses on its own better performance, not like a boxing game, where
both sides try to knock each other out," the official added.
The White House declined to comment on Thursday.
Separately, Biden will address the Asia Pacific Economic Conference
leaders' summit in an online appearance on Friday morning, the White
House said.
Xi is likely to invite the U.S. president to attend the 2022 Winter
Olympics in Beijing, CNBC reported on Thursday, citing two people
familiar with the matter.
Such a request could put Biden in an uncomfortable spot as he presses
China on human rights. Biden is unlikely to go to Beijing for any kind
of meeting; the U.S. president did not attend the Summer Olympics in
Tokyo, a key American ally.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping shakes hands with U.S. Vice President
Joe Biden (L) inside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing
December 4, 2013. REUTERS/Lintao Zhang/Pool
Biden and Xi last spoke on Sept. 9, a 90-minute
conversation that a senior U.S. official said focused on economic
issues, climate change and COVID-19.
Biden has been eager to hold face-to-face talks with Xi to try to
reduce tensions with Beijing over Taiwan and a host of other issues.
U.S. officials had wanted Biden to meet Xi on the sidelines of a G20
summit in Rome two weeks ago, but Xi has not traveled outside of
China since the pandemic broke out 21 months ago.
The latest Biden-Xi virtual meeting was agreed to in principle last
month during talks in Zurich between China's top diplomat, Yang
Jiechi, and U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan, who raised
concerns about Chinese actions in the South China Sea, as well as
human rights and Beijing's stances on Hong Kong, Xinjiang and
Taiwan.
A senior administration official said there was nothing to announce
yet. "We have an agreement in principle to have a virtual bilateral
meeting before the end of the year. Working-level discussions are
under way to confirm details," the official said.
The White House has characterized the upcoming meeting as part of
ongoing U.S. efforts to "responsibly manage" competition between the
two countries.
(Reporting by Steve Holland; additional reportuing by Andrea Shalal
and David Lawder; writing by Susan Heavey, Doina Chiacu; Editing by
Chizu Nomiyama, Jonathan Oatis and Cynthia Osterman)
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