By Trevor Hunnicutt
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden will meet Chinese language counterpart Xi Jinping for possible the ultimate time on Saturday, senior administration officers mentioned, as Beijing prepares for a doubtlessly extra confrontational interval with Washington beneath Donald Trump.
The 2 leaders are anticipated to carry talks spanning a spread of world scorching spots, together with heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Financial Cooperation discussion board in Lima, Peru, U.S. nationwide safety adviser Jake Sullivan advised reporters. He didn’t verify the date of the assembly.
Will probably be Biden and Xi’s first identified interplay since an April telephone name.
The 2 leaders have tried to maintain tensions at bay over points starting from Taiwan to the South China Sea and Russia, and American calls for for extra Chinese language assist to stem the circulate of the components for fentanyl, the main reason for U.S. drug overdoses.
Biden will elevate issues over a Chinese language-linked group that just lately hacked into non-public telecommunications of distinguished U.S. officers, Sullivan mentioned.
“The president has demonstrated that the U.S. and (the People’s Republic of China) can manage our differences and prevent competition from veering into conflict or confrontation, and he’s done that by ensuring the maintenance of open lines of communication,” he mentioned.
Officers mentioned he would additionally elevate Chinese language assist for Russia’s warfare in Ukraine and the presence of over 10,000 North Korean troopers in Russia.
The Chinese language embassy in Washington didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Biden and Xi restored leader-level talks final November that produced extra cooperation on counter-narcotics efforts however little motion on larger points like a possible battle over Taiwan, the democratically ruled island that China claims as its personal territory.
The Democratic administration finalized guidelines final month proscribing U.S. funding in synthetic intelligence, quantum computing and semiconductors in China which can be set to take impact in January. That adopted Biden elevating tariffs on extra items from China.
Each steps had been rejected by China as counterproductive.
Trump, a Republican, has vowed to undertake blanket 60% tariffs on U.S. imports of Chinese language items as a part of a package deal of “America First” commerce measures. Beijing opposes these steps.
“Transitions are uniquely consequential moments in geopolitics; They’re a time when competitors and adversaries can see possibly opportunity because you have this change in government here,” Sullivan mentioned.
“Part of what President Biden will communicate is that we need to maintain stability, clarity, predictability through this transition between the United States and China.”
Trump’s early personnel decisions have included a number of hawkish voices on China in senior positions, equivalent to U.S. Consultant Mike Waltz as nationwide safety adviser.
Xi reportedly referred to as Trump final week to congratulate him on his Nov. 5 election victory. Trump takes workplace on Jan. 20.
