What Joe Biden hopes to get from his high-stakes assembly with Xi Jinping

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San Francisco
CNN
 — 

President Joe Biden hopes to stroll away from his carefully watched summit with Chinese language President Xi Jinping on Wednesday having put the US-China relationship on steadier footing after months of pressure between the 2 superpowers.


As a substitute, the first goal for the talks seemed to be restoring channels of communication, principally via the army, to keep away from the kind of miscommunication or miscalculation US officers concern might result in open battle.

Biden mentioned forward of his departure for California that he would outline success for the sit-down as getting again on a “regular course” with China. He mentioned that included “corresponding, having the ability to choose up the telephone and discuss to at least one one other if there’s a disaster, having the ability to guarantee that our militaries nonetheless have contact with each other.”


For the higher a part of the final 12 months, US officers have been laying the groundwork for this week’s Biden-Xi summit. With the goal of reestablishing diplomatic channels between the 2 international locations, nationwide safety adviser Jake Sullivan has met with Chinese language International Minister Wang Yi 3 times, whereas Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and US local weather envoy John Kerry have all traveled to Beijing.

The overtures have been prolonged within the different course too, with China’s senior-most officers – together with its overseas minister – touring to the US to satisfy with their American counterparts.

US officers mentioned that working-level consultations had been established with Beijing on particularly delicate matters like arms management and maritime points.

Sources accustomed to these efforts say that Washington has seen indicators in current months that the Chinese language are starting to just accept the knowledge of each international locations working collectively to strengthen their strains of communication and mitigate misunderstandings.

“Now could be exactly the time for high-level diplomacy,” a senior administration official mentioned. “Intense competitors requires and calls for intense diplomacy to handle tensions and to stop competitors from verging into battle or confrontation.”

Regardless of a deep and apparently heat private relationship cultivated throughout their time as vice presidents, Biden and Xi have overseen a deterioration in US-China relations to the bottom degree in a long time.

The final time Biden spoke face-to-face with Xi was a 12 months in the past in Bali, the place the target was described by American officers as establishing a “flooring” for the connection. The assembly was cordial but additionally didn’t produce a listing of great outcomes.

This 12 months, officers have been much more cautious to set expectations, suggesting the US-China relationship is solely in a distinct place than it was when summit talks between leaders produced prolonged units of “deliverables.”

Retaining the connection from tipping over into battle is now the driving goal.

“There is no such thing as a substitute for leader-to-leader engagement, head to head, to handle a fancy relationship just like the US-China relationship, and that’s what we’re attempting to do right here. The US and China are in competitors. President Biden is attempting to handle that competitors responsibly, so it doesn’t tip over into battle,” Sullivan mentioned.

Additionally on the agenda had been China’s nuclear buildup, financial points and work towards curbing local weather change.

On Taiwan, the 2 males had been hardly more likely to forge main settlement. China’s Communist Celebration claims the self-governing island as its personal and has vowed to take it by drive if vital.

“President Xi is one other instance of how reestablishing American management on this planet is taking maintain,” Biden mentioned in San Francisco Tuesday, in line with a pool report. “They’ve bought actual issues, of us.”

As Biden was making ready for Wednesday’s summit, Republicans questioned his choice to hunt a gathering with Xi. Nikki Haley, the previous South Carolina governor searching for the GOP presidential nomination, claimed Biden had “begged” for the assembly.

Biden and his aides are aware of the political backdrop for his assembly. Sullivan mentioned Biden was “searching for … sensible methods to point out the American those that sitting down with Xi Jinping can defend American pursuits and likewise ship progress on the priorities of the American folks.”

The deal, which has been a precedence for the Biden administration, would goal firms that produce and export the supply materials to make the lethal artificial opioid. The purpose could be to considerably restrict the stream of precursor supplies to Mexico, the folks mentioned.

It might additionally mark an necessary home political win for Biden, whose administration has grappled with trafficking of deadly illicit medication like fentanyl in an ongoing disaster on the southern border that has weighed down his administration.


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