Taiwan, Russia’s conflict in Ukraine, North Korea to prime agenda By Reuters

By Nandita Bose, Simon Lewis and David Brunnstrom

(Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden will meet Chinese language chief Xi Jinping in particular person on Monday for the primary time since taking workplace, with U.S. issues over Taiwan, Russia’s conflict in Ukraine and North Korea’s nuclear ambitions on prime of his agenda.

The long-awaited in particular person assembly comes as relations between the superpowers have sunk to their lowest in many years. The 2 will meet on the Indonesian island of Bali forward of the annual Group of 20 (G20) summit gathering leaders of the world’s main developed and rising economies.

Biden goes into the assembly on the again of a significant home victory with Democrats clinching management of the Senate, whereas Xi secured an unprecedented third time period in workplace final month.

“I do know I am coming in stronger however I do not want that. I do know Xi Jinping, I spent extra time with him than another world chief.” Biden informed reporters in Cambodia on Sunday after the Senate outcomes.

“I’ve at all times had straight-forward discussions with him. There’s by no means any miscalculation about…the place every of us stands.”

The U.S. president, who’s on a whirlwind journey with stops at a world local weather summit in Egypt and an ASEAN assembly and the East Asia Summit in Cambodia forward of G20, is hoping to construct a “flooring for the connection” with China and guarantee there are guidelines that sure competitors between the 2 nations.

Biden not too long ago stated he was unwilling to make any elementary concessions when he meets Xi, and that he wished each leaders to put out their “purple strains” and resolve areas of battle.

The assembly is unlikely to provide concrete outcomes and no joint assertion is anticipated, the White Home has stated, but it surely may assist stabilize a relationship marked by rising tensions in recent times over a bunch of points starting from Hong Kong and Taiwan to the South China Sea, coercive commerce practices and U.S. restrictions on Chinese language know-how.

Biden and Xi, who’ve held 5 cellphone or video calls since Biden turned president in January 2021, final met in particular person in the course of the Obama administration. U.S. ties with China are at a low, most notably since U.S. Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s August journey to Taiwan, the self-governed democratic island that Beijing claims as its territory.

“This in-person assembly presents a chance to dial down tensions and search methods to handle competitors,” stated Bonnie Glaser, an Asia knowledgeable on the German Marshall Fund.

RELATIONS DATE OVER A DECADE

The 2 leaders know one another nicely, having travelled over 17,000 miles collectively and spent 78 hours in conferences, based on Biden’s calculations. They’ve travelled collectively in the US and China in 2011 and 2012 when each had been serving as their respective nations’ vice presidents.

Beijing, pissed off by what it sees because the Biden administration’s weaponisation of financial insurance policies, has sought to increase ties with Europe and Africa. Xi’s authorities has additionally criticized the Biden administration’s posture towards Taiwan as undermining China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The Chinese language president has additionally prompt that Washington needs to stifle Beijing’s rising affect because it tries to overhaul the US because the world’s largest financial system.

Monday’s assembly on the sidelines of a gathering of Group of 20 leaders in Bali, Indonesia, comes weeks after the Biden administration unveiled a brand new nationwide safety technique that sees an more and more authoritarian China as essentially the most consequential problem to the worldwide order.

“The Biden administration will attempt to kill two birds with one stone – enlist Chinese language help on points like reining in North Korea and local weather change – to create some foundation for cooperation between China and the U.S.,” stated Oriana Skylar Mastro, a China knowledgeable at Stanford College.

Xi, contemporary off the heels of a Communist Get together congress that cemented his energy, will press Biden to decide to sustaining stability in relations with China and to respecting the established order on Taiwan, stated Li Mingjiang, affiliate professor at S. Rajaratnam Faculty of Worldwide Research. The 2 may additionally reopen some working-level mechanisms for bilateral consultations on commerce and different points, he stated.

Biden will even talk about Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and plans to be “unapologetic” in his defence of Ukraine, U.S. officers stated final week.

China has largely kept away from criticising Russia’s conflict however up to now has held off on supplying Moscow with arms, based on U.S. officers. Russian President Vladimir Putin is not going to attend the G20 summit.

Biden will even warn Xi that North Korea’s continued pursuit of weapons growth will result in an enhanced U.S. navy presence within the area, the White Home stated.

The US is anxious that North Korea plans to renew nuclear bomb testing for the primary time since 2017 and believes China and Russia have the leverage to steer it not to take action.