WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperat...
WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco on November 15, a senior US official said.
"President Joe Biden will indeed meet with the president of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, in the San Francisco area on November 15," the official said in a phone call with reporters, adding that the exact venue of the talks is not yet being disclosed for security reasons.
Topics on agenda
The development of bilateral relations, contacts in the military sphere, the situation in Ukraine, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as the issue of Taiwan will be among the topics of the talks between US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, the US official said.
"We expect the leaders to discuss strategic areas of the development of bilateral relations, the need for maintaining open channels of communication, including in the military sphere," he said, adding that other topics will include the situation in Ukraine and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
"Nothing will be held back; everything is on the table," the official said.
Bilateral relations
The presidents will discuss the possibility of restoring communications in the military field.
"I’ll just start this, I will say that the [US] president has been determined to take the necessary steps to restore <…> communications between the United States and China on the military side." According to the US official, Biden plans to press for the need to restore communications between the two countries’ military agencies.
Possibility of Iran intervening into Middle East conflict
US President Joe Biden will tell his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping about the inadmissibility of Iran's escalation of the situation in the Middle East.
"I think with respect to the Middle East, I believe that the [US] President will underscore our desire for China to make clear <…> [to Tehran] that it is essential that Iran not seek to escalate or spread violence in the Middle East and to warn quite clearly that if Iran undertakes provocative actions anywhere that the United States is prepared to respond and respond promptly," he said.
Taiwan issue
US President Joe Biden will seek to clear up misunderstandings over the US position on the Taiwan issue, the senior US official added.
"We are seeking to communicate our position and make it clear," he said, adding that much of the future closed-door talks between the leaders will focused on "clearing up misunderstandings."
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