There will be no concessions from the US side. There are no actual deliverables, which is government jargon for specific accomplishments. Don’t expect a joyous joint statement either.
During President Joe Biden’s highly anticipated meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday, the leaders will scramble to determine how to handle a relationship the US has determined poses the greatest economic and military threat.
At the same time, US officials have repeatedly stressed that they view the two countries’ interactions as competition and want to avoid conflict.
Here’s a look at what each side hopes to achieve from the leaders’ first in-person meeting as presidents, which will take place on the Indonesian island of Bali:
for the united states
Essentially, Biden and other US officials are trying to understand where Xi really stands.
At a news conference shortly before leaving Washington, Biden said he wanted to “expose… what our red lines are, understand what he believes to be in China’s critical national interests, what I know to be the critical US interests.” USA”.
That mission has become even more imperative since the conclusion of the Communal Party congress in Beijing, during which Xi secured a third term as rule-breaking leader, further empowering him.
It’s a goal that will be much more easily accomplished in person, White House officials say, despite Biden and Xi’s five video or phone calls during the US president’s tenure.
Biden told reporters on Sunday that he has “always had direct talks” with Xi, and that has prevented any of them from “miscalculating” his intentions.
“I know him well, he knows me,” Biden said. “We just have to figure out where the red lines are and what are the most important things for each of us, going into the next two years.” The US president will want to send a message to Xi about the White House’s concerns about China’s economic practices. Taiwan is sure to turn up, and Biden will want to stress to Xi that the US will be ready to defend the self-governing island should it come under attack from China.
Biden will also seek to make clear his concerns about Beijing’s human rights practices, as he has done in their previous interactions.
Biden will also use the meeting to push for a more aggressive stance from Xi on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Chinese leader has largely refrained from publicly criticizing Vladimir Putin’s actions and has refused to actively help Moscow by supplying weapons.
“We believe that, of course, all countries in the world should do more to convince Russia, especially those who have relations with Russia, to end this war and leave Ukraine,” said the US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan.
Finally, US officials say they are eager to see where the two superpowers might collaborate. While there are numerous areas where Biden and Xi will disagree, the White House has listed several issues where they could possibly agree, including health, the fight against drugs and climate change.
for china
Xi has yet to give a wish list for talks with Biden, but Beijing wants the US to act on trade and Taiwan.
Perhaps most importantly, the G20 meeting in Bali and the meeting with Biden give China’s most powerful leader in decades a stage to promote his country’s image as a global player and himself as a historical figure. that it is restoring its legitimate role as an economic and political force.
China is pursuing “increasingly assertive foreign and security policies aimed at changing the international status quo,” Kevin Rudd, a former Australian prime minister who is president of the Asia Society, wrote in Foreign Affairs.
That has strained relations with Washington, Europe and China’s Asian neighbors, but Xi is unfazed and seems willing to be more ambitious abroad.
The meeting is “an important event of China’s head-of-state diplomacy towards Asia Pacific,” said a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zhao Lijian. He said that Xi will “make an important speech” on economic growth.
Zhao called on the Biden administration to “stop politicizing” trade and embrace Beijing’s claim to sovereignty over Taiwan, the self-governing democratic island that broke away from the mainland in 1949 and has never been part of the People’s Republic of China.
Beijing wants Washington to remove tariffs imposed by former President Donald Trump in 2019 and ease growing restrictions on Chinese access to US processor chips and other technology.
Biden has left most of them in place and added restrictions on access to technology that US officials say can be used in weapons development.
“The United States must stop politicizing, arming and ideologizing trade issues,” Zhao said.
Xi’s government has intensified its efforts to intimidate the elected government of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen by flying fighter jets near the island and firing missiles into the sea.
Beijing halted talks with Washington on security, climate cooperation and other issues after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August in a show of support for her government.
“The United States must stop obscuring, hollowing out and distorting the one-China principle,” Zhao said, referring to Beijing’s stance that Taiwan is obliged to join the mainland under the leadership of the Communist Party.
Another goal for Xi: Not catching COVID-19
The G-20 will be only Xi’s second overseas trip in two and a half years as his government pursues a harsh “Covid zero” strategy that shut down cities and kept most visitors out of China.
Xi broke that moratorium by attending a summit in September with Putin and Central Asian leaders. But he skipped a dinner and a photo shoot where Putin and others didn’t wear masks.
