The US and China have agreed to work towards setting up a meeting between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping after the US president met with China’s foreign minister on Friday.
Biden has invited Xi to San Francisco in November for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit. The Chinese president has not yet confirmed he will come.
Biden held talks with Wang Yi and other senior US officials in Washington, the White House said, with both countries agreeing to keep up “high-level diplomacy” to try to smooth ties.
The two sides “reaffirmed” they were “working together towards a meeting between President Biden and President Xi Jinping in San Francisco in November”, a White House statement said.
A senior administration official said the White House was leaving it to Beijing to confirm that Xi would come but “we are making preparations for just such a meeting”.
FM Wang Yi met with US President Joe Biden @POTUS at the White House today. Wang conveyed President Xi Jinping's greetings to President Biden, and said that the purpose of this visit is to communicate with the US and effectively implement the important consensus reached at the… pic.twitter.com/44UIZD8e3h
— Liu Pengyu 刘鹏宇 (@SpoxCHNinUS) October 28, 2023
Biden earlier told Wang that Washington and Beijing must “manage competition in the relationship responsibly and maintain open lines of communication”, the White House said.
With the Israel-Hamas war taking place in the Middle East, Biden also “underscored that the US and China must work together to address global challenges”.
The secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and the national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, were present. Wang has been on a two-day visit to Washington during which he also met separately with Blinken and Sullivan, the latest in a series of high-level contacts between the US and China.
Wang said after meeting Blinken on Thursday that he wanted to “stabilise US-China relations” and “reduce misunderstanding” after years of tensions. When there were differences, 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”.
Relations have been tense for years between the world’s top two economies. They are vying for influence in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond, and Beijing is boosting cooperation with Russia in a bid to reduce US dominance.
Tensions have been high over Taiwan, the self-ruling democracy claimed by Beijing. China over the past year has launched major military exercises in response to actions by US lawmakers.
Biden on Wednesday warned China of US treaty obligations to the Philippines, which said that Chinese vessels deliberately hit Manila’s boats in dispute-rife waters – an account contested by Beijing.
Speaking alongside Australia’s prime minister, a key Asia-Pacific ally, Biden vowed to compete with China “every way according to the international rules – economically, politically, in other ways. But I’m not looking for conflict.”
With Agence France-Presse
