Following President Joe Biden’s meeting with China’s top diplomat at the White House on Friday, American authorities said that China and the United States had decided to work toward arranging a meeting between their leaders for next month.
In the midst of strained relations with China, Biden has invited Xi Jinping to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco in November. Xi has not yet stated that he will attend.
Following talks in Washington between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US Vice President Joe Biden and other senior officials, the White House announced that both nations had decided to continue “high-level diplomacy” in an effort to improve relations.
According to a statement from the White House, the two parties “reaffirmed” that they were “working together towards a meeting between President Biden and President Xi Jinping in San Francisco in November.”
According to a top administration official, “we are making preparations for just such a meeting,” but Beijing will have to confirm Xi’s attendance.
Wang was previously informed by Biden that Beijing and Washington needed to “maintain open lines of communication and manage competition in the relationship responsibly,” according to the White House.
With the Israel-Hamas conflict raging in the Middle East, Biden also “underscored that the United States and China must work together to address global challenges,” it added in a statement.
US officials had “expressed our deep concern with the situation (in the middle East) and pressed China to take a more constructive approach” including talking to its allies there, the senior administration official added.
The White House released a photo of Biden and Wang shaking hands. Journalists were not allowed in to the meeting, at which Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan were also present.
