After meeting with China’s Xi, Biden will host a solo press conference
Xi Jinping meets the U.S. in the Bay Area: Five things we’ve learned from the last visit to the United States
SAN FRANCISCO — The last time China’s leader, Xi Jinping, visited the United States was in 2017. Back then, trade friction was heating up between the U.S. and China but had not yet become a full-blown trade war. The former President described his relationship with the Chinese President as “great chemistry”.
There was no communication between Biden andXi in recent months, despite the fact that administration officials met with their Chinese counterparts multiple times.
So when they meet again this Wednesday in the San Francisco Bay Area, they have lots to discuss. NPR reporters are following five things.
U.S.-China communication on military issues took a hit after former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s high-profile visit to Taiwan last year. Most senior military-to-military dialogue has been suspended by China. Analysts have warned of a potential miscalculation in the South China Sea due to the lack of exchanges.
It would be beneficial to have more direct communication during a crisis, and also give you more ballast over the longer term, according to a director of Asia engagement at the think tank Defense Priorities.
“I’ve seen how these top U.S. military leaders, when they have some exposure to China, it kind of it has an effect on how they view the situation and they become kind of more moderate, I think, partly because they have to put in the time talking to these people face to face,” he said.
China’s role in the Iran-Russia war: a farewell to the U.S. and expected to the rest of the Pacific
This has long been a key issue between the U.S. and China. In the past few years, analysts on both sides of the Pacific have chimed in with guesses about when it will be possible to re-unite Taiwan with the mainland.
Wednesday’s discussion on Taiwan is expected to be equally heated. In the run up to Taiwan’s January presidential election, Beijing will be watching carefully – and nervously – the words and deeds from Washington.
The United States has criticized China’s stance on the Russia-Ukraine war, despite the fact that it claims to be neutral. He said in his farewell speech that the changes, such as which have not been seen in 100 years, were driving the changes together.
China claims to be neutral in the Israel-Hamas war, although the Biden administration sees Beijing as having some potential influence over how the next stage of the conflict develops – particularly in Beijing’s relations with Iran, a major supporter of Hamas.
Jake Sullivan, the national security advisor to President Biden, said on Monday that President Biden will make the point to Chinese President XI that Iran acting in an escalatory, destabilizing way that undermines stability across the Middle East is not in the interests of China or any other responsible country.
Both sides have set the expectations low, but analysts are watching keenly on what’s to be said and agreed on over the course of this week when the Chinese leader is in town. They range from control to sanctions.
On Wednesday, he is expected to address a dinner attended by U.S. business executives in San Francisco, which some analysts say shows his desire to lure American businesses back in the Chinese market.
The guests are old friends from the state of Iowa, where the younger Xi spent some time as an exchange official. That was 38 years ago, but analysts say the gesture echoes Xi’s recent framing on the bilateral relationship: that the people-to-people exchange between the two nations is the foundation.
In addition to reestablishing communications between the U.S. and China’s military, the White House has said efforts to combat the illicit trade of fentanyl will also be a topic of Biden and Xi’s conversation.
A year ago when they met, the wind was at both of their backs. Xi had just engineered a norm-bending third term as Communist Party boss, and stacked the policy-making Politburo with allies.
In the U.S., midterm election wins for the Democratic Party in 2022, and the lack of an expected “Red Wave”, validated the Biden agenda just days before meeting Xi. Biden said at the time that the midterms had sent a message around the world that the U.S. would remain fully engaged in global affairs.
After a series of public protests in the country, the COVID controls were ended, but not before citizens expressed their unhappiness with the policies of the government. A study this year said the subsequent rapid spread of the virus after the “dynamic zero COVID” policy may have led to 2 million excess deaths.
On top of that, the Chinese economy has been struggling mightily this year and seems unlikely to hit the official target of “around 5 percent”. Consumer confidence has plummeted, as investment has slumped.
Biden’s upcoming trip to China and his relations with the Xi Jinping-Lifshitz ally in the Middle East
For Biden, his polling is troubling. Only 39 percent of Americans approve of him. Several recent polls show former president and Republican frontrunner Donald Trump beating Biden in a presidential faceoff next year.
The president will speak with the Chinese leader for the first time in a year at a press conference, which will announce agreements on military communication channels.
“To get back on a normal course of corresponding: being able to pick up the phone and talk to one another when there’s a crisis, being able to make sure our militaries still have contact with one another,” Biden said when a reporter asked what would make his meeting with Xi a success.
The Middle East, as well as conflicts in Russia and Ukraine, will come up, he said.
