Will Biden, Xi's possible November meet help reset US-China ties?

They were supposed to meet in New Delhi. Now, they might meet in San Francisco. Plans are afoot of a sit-down between the United States president Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping in November.

The Washington Post, who was the first to report on this probable meeting, citing US administration sources saying that “it’s pretty firm” there will be a meeting. “We’re beginning the process” of planning.

Beijing has chosen to remain mum on the matter for now. However, it will be interesting to see if the two leaders indeed meet and if they are able to thaw relations between the countries and find some resolution to issues such as Taiwan, the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, allegations of spying, human rights issues and trade tariffs, among others.

Biden and Xi to meet in November?

The Washington Post, quoting officials from the Biden administration, reported that the White House has begun planning a meet between the leaders of the two countries at next month’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, scheduled to be held from 15 to 17 November.

Bloomberg has also stated that advance teams for both countries have been scouting meeting sites in San Francisco.

It is reported that the plans for the meeting will only firm up after Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi comes to Washington in the coming weeks.

An administration official told the Washington Post that Biden was “keen to meet Xi” but as of now nothing had been finalised.

Notably, this will be Biden and Xi’s first face-to-face since they met on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia in November 2022. They would have met again at this year’s G20 summit in New Delhi, but the Chinese leader opted to skip the meet amid growing tensions with the US as well as India and the western world.

And amidst the wait for a Biden-Xi meet, Washington has been engaging in diplomacy with Beijing, sending a flurry of top officials there – Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Treasury Secretary Janet L Yellen, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and climate envoy John F Kerry. Last month, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan held two days of talks with Wang in Malta.

Why is this significant?

If the meet does take place in November, this will be a significant step.

A sit-down between the US president and the Chinese leader has the greatest chance of resolving realistically solvable issues – Washington and Beijing have too many issues at hand – and moving forward on objectives of mutual interest.

This meeting would help in getting US-China relations back on track, which have been hit with political vitriol and one-upmanship.

China and US ties in recent times have seen a downward spiral. The relations saw even a further slump in February when Biden ordered the shoot-down of a Chinese balloon, which had travelled over. Washington had then accused Beijing of carrying out spying activities, a claim the latter denied.

There have also been comments made by Biden on his home soil about Xi which has rattled ties. In June, at a fundraiser, the US president called Xi a “dictator” who was unaware of the spy balloon and said that the Chinese president was “very embarrassed” when it got shot down. He also noted China was having “real economic difficulties.”

China has also accused Washington of leading the West to implement a “containment, encirclement and suppression of China” to slow its development.

There’s also the problem of Taiwan. Biden has taken a bold stand on the issue – he has said several times that the US military will defend Taiwan if China attacks it. He has also sent US naval ships through the Taiwan Strait, as China pushes forward there.

Beijing, on their part, has expressed their displeasure towards Washington on this with Xi using aggressive language in his warnings: “Those who play with fire will perish by it,” he had told the president during a marathon call in July last year, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.

Ties have also been hit over the issue of trade and tariffs.

Beyond geopolitics and trade, there’s also the matter of America’s opioid crisis. Fentanyl, which has become a leading cause of death of Americans aged between 18 and 45, is made in Mexico using chemicals sourced from China.

A win-win for both?

This sit-down between Biden and Xi is also important for both leaders. For the US president, as he eyes another term in the White House, he wants to portray a strong image. As he had said in his UN General Assembly address last month, “We are for de-risking; not decoupling with China.”

Some experts also opine that by bringing Xi to the table, Biden will display his diplomatic prowess and show voters at home that he is the right choice for the 2024 US presidential elections.

Biden would also like to show the West and the world that Washington remains an important player and reassert his country’s dominance in geopolitics.

For Xi too, this meeting is crucial. Many believe that if the Chinese leader chooses to skip this meet, on the heels of his G20 absence, it would be a poor look. Danny Russel, a former White House Asia aide in the Obama administration, told the Washington Post, “People will jump to the conclusion that the domestic economic and political problems are too great. There’s a cost to him not going.”

Xi too wants to show the Chinese public that he’s got China’s bilateral ties under control. As the Wall Street Journal reported, the Chinese leader wants to see if restoring economic discussions with Washington may help slow down the pace of US restrictions on high-technology transfers to China.

Experts also believe that both leaders wish to stabilise ties and avoid an international crisis or brawl that could interfere with their domestic agendas. The meet, according to them, would be able to realise this objective.

As the uncertainty over the meet lingers, one thing is sure: it is of utmost importance that Biden and Xi speak to one another and resolve problems and bring stability to the US-China relationship and reduce tensions that could lead to the destruction of both countries.

Not only will this benefit Americans and Chinese, but also the world.

With inputs from agencies