WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden met China’s foreign minister at the White House on Friday to prepare for a possible visit by President Xi Jinping to the United States, as the two biggest economies try to ease tensions.

Biden has invited Xi to San Francisco for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit next month, but he has also stood firm on China in the run-up, keeping up sanctions and backing US allies in disputes with Beijing.

The US president told China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi that Washington and Beijing must “manage competition in the relationship responsibly and maintain open lines of communication,” the White House stated.

With the Israel-Hamas conflict raging in the Middle East, Biden also “underscored that the United States and China must work together to address global challenges,” it added.

While journalists were not allowed to cover the meeting, at which Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan were also present, the White House released a photo of Biden and Wang Yi shaking hands.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters there was no confirmation yet that Xi would sit down with Biden in San Francisco.

But he said the hour-long meeting in the White House’s Roosevelt Room was a “positive development and a good opportunity to keep the conversation going.” The Israel-Hamas war “certainly was on the agenda”, Kirby added, as well as global topics such as climate change, he added.

Wang has been on a two-day visit to Washington during which he also met Secretary Blinken and Adviser Sullivan, the latest in a series of high-level contacts between the two countries.

The China’s foreign minister had been expected to meet Biden, after Secretary Blinken met President Xi in Beijing in June, but it had not previously been confirmed.

‘Reduce misunderstanding’

Wang said after meeting Blinken on Thursday he wanted to “stabilise US-China relations” and “reduce misunderstanding” after years of tensions.

Acknowledging that differences will still come up, Wang said China would respond “calmly, because we are of the view that what is right and what is wrong is not determined by who has the stronger arm or the louder voice.”

Biden and Xi have had no contact since a meeting in Bali in November 2022. Relations have been tense for years between the two economies as they vie for influence in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond, and as Beijing boosts cooperation with Russia in a bid to reduce US dominance.

The US and China have also traded barbs over the conflict in the Middle East, where Biden has been Israel’s foremost ally.

Tensions have been particularly high over Taiwan, claimed by Beijing.

Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2023