Joe Biden Set To Meet China’s Xi Jinping At The APEC Summit In Peru

U.S. President Joe Biden will meet Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping for likely the final time on Saturday. This was revealed by senior administration officials. The two leaders are expected to hold talks spanning a range of global hot spots.

This is all happening on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Lima, Peru, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters. He did not confirm the date of the meeting.

It will be Biden and Xi’s first known interaction since an April phone call. The two leaders have tried to keep tensions at bay over issues ranging from Taiwan to the South China Sea and Russia.

Then the Americans demands for more Chinese help to stem the flow of the ingredients for fentanyl. This is the leading cause of U.S. drug overdoses.

Biden will raise concerns over a Chinese-linked group that recently hacked into private telecommunications of prominent U.S. officials, Sullivan said.

“The president has demonstrated that the U.S. and (the People’s Republic of China) can manage our differences. This is to prevent competition from veering into conflict or confrontation, and he’s done that by ensuring the maintenance of open lines of communication,” he said.

Officials said he would also raise Chinese support for Russia’s war in Ukraine. Then the presence of over 10,000 North Korean soldiers in Russia.

The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Biden and Xi restored leader-level talks last November that produced more cooperation on counter-narcotics efforts. However, there is little movement on bigger issues like a potential conflict over Taiwan.

This is the democratically governed island that China claims as its own territory. The Democratic administration finalized rules last month restricting U.S. investment in artificial intelligence, quantum computing and semiconductors in China that are set to take effect in January.

That followed Biden raising tariffs on more goods from China. Both steps were rejected by China as counterproductive.