U.S., China Agree in Principle to Biden
常然
楼主 (北美华人网)
https://www.wsj.com/world/u-s-china-agree-in-principle-to-biden-xi-summit-73df82b7?mod=hp_lead_pos4
WASHINGTON—China and the U.S. moved closer to holding a summit between President Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping after months of careful diplomatic maneuvering to repair ties.
Two days of meetings between Biden, members of his national security team and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi this week yielded “an agreement in principle” for a summit in San Francisco next month, a U.S. official said Saturday. China’s Foreign Ministry, in its assessment of Wang’s meetings, said, “The two sides agreed to work together to achieve a meeting of the two heads of state in San Francisco.”
A summit, should it occur, offers the U.S. and China a moment to reboot ties that earlier this year went into free fall and remain fractious as the two powers continue a global rivalry. Talks between Biden and Xi are the most important channel for setting the tone and agenda in the countries’ relations, according to officials on both sides, especially for China’s top-down driven system. The consensus reached during Wang’s Washington meetings Thursday and Friday fall short of an ironclad guarantee of a summit, another U.S. official said. The U.S. is hosting an annual gathering of Pacific rim leaders in San Francisco in mid-November, providing a convenient time for a separate Biden-Xi summit.
With three weeks to go, Beijing is concerned that the U.S. might do something—such as approving an arms sale to Taiwan—that would embarrass Xi or make sitting down with Biden politically difficult at home, according to Chinese officials. Earlier this month, the Biden administration toughened restrictions on semiconductor exports to China that Beijing has decried as economic containment.
Washington and Beijing are at odds over a lengthening list of issues from Taiwan, a U.S. partner under military pressure from China, to control of advanced technologies and Russia’s war on Ukraine. Earlier this week, after China harassed Philippine ships trying to resupply an outpost in the South China Sea, Biden warned about attacking a U.S. ally.
In the latest Middle East crisis, Beijing has presented itself as an alternative to the U.S., refusing to condemn Hamas for its attacks on Israel, given more full-throated backing for a Palestinian state and vetoed U.S. resolutions at the U.N. Security Council.
Both the Israel-Hamas war and the South China Sea came up in Foreign Minister Wang’s meetings with national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, as did Taiwan, according to official U.S. and Chinese accounts.
U.S. officials have said they don’t expect Beijing to guarantee Xi’s participation in a summit and at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ meeting until shortly before the events. Chinese officials have been preparing for Xi to do so, booking hotel rooms in San Francisco, officials said, and Xi has sent unmistakable signals he’s interested.
Washington and Beijing have been trying to repair ties for months, after tensions spiraled amid China’s close relationship with Russia in the Ukraine war and over a Chinese balloon that the U.S. said was engaged in spying over North America before shooting it down.
The Biden administration has sent a parade of high-level officials to Beijing to jump-start a reset, and other U.S. political leaders have followed suit. In recent weeks, Xi has met with a bipartisan delegation of U.S. senators, led by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), and with California Gov. Gavin Newsom. For Xi to see those politicians wasn’t required by diplomatic protocol, U.S. officials said, as Chinese leaders typically stick to meeting their direct counterparts.
When meeting Newsom, Chinese state media said, Xi recalled memories of visiting California decades ago. Wang, seeing Biden at the White House on Friday, carried a message from Xi that in part said they should “look toward San Francisco,” according to China’s Foreign Ministry.
Andrew Restuccia contributed to this article. Write to Charles Hutzler at [email protected]
WASHINGTON—China and the U.S. moved closer to holding a summit between President Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping after months of careful diplomatic maneuvering to repair ties.
Two days of meetings between Biden, members of his national security team and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi this week yielded “an agreement in principle” for a summit in San Francisco next month, a U.S. official said Saturday. China’s Foreign Ministry, in its assessment of Wang’s meetings, said, “The two sides agreed to work together to achieve a meeting of the two heads of state in San Francisco.”
A summit, should it occur, offers the U.S. and China a moment to reboot ties that earlier this year went into free fall and remain fractious as the two powers continue a global rivalry. Talks between Biden and Xi are the most important channel for setting the tone and agenda in the countries’ relations, according to officials on both sides, especially for China’s top-down driven system. The consensus reached during Wang’s Washington meetings Thursday and Friday fall short of an ironclad guarantee of a summit, another U.S. official said. The U.S. is hosting an annual gathering of Pacific rim leaders in San Francisco in mid-November, providing a convenient time for a separate Biden-Xi summit.
With three weeks to go, Beijing is concerned that the U.S. might do something—such as approving an arms sale to Taiwan—that would embarrass Xi or make sitting down with Biden politically difficult at home, according to Chinese officials. Earlier this month, the Biden administration toughened restrictions on semiconductor exports to China that Beijing has decried as economic containment.
Washington and Beijing are at odds over a lengthening list of issues from Taiwan, a U.S. partner under military pressure from China, to control of advanced technologies and Russia’s war on Ukraine. Earlier this week, after China harassed Philippine ships trying to resupply an outpost in the South China Sea, Biden warned about attacking a U.S. ally.
In the latest Middle East crisis, Beijing has presented itself as an alternative to the U.S., refusing to condemn Hamas for its attacks on Israel, given more full-throated backing for a Palestinian state and vetoed U.S. resolutions at the U.N. Security Council.
Both the Israel-Hamas war and the South China Sea came up in Foreign Minister Wang’s meetings with national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, as did Taiwan, according to official U.S. and Chinese accounts.
U.S. officials have said they don’t expect Beijing to guarantee Xi’s participation in a summit and at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ meeting until shortly before the events. Chinese officials have been preparing for Xi to do so, booking hotel rooms in San Francisco, officials said, and Xi has sent unmistakable signals he’s interested.
Washington and Beijing have been trying to repair ties for months, after tensions spiraled amid China’s close relationship with Russia in the Ukraine war and over a Chinese balloon that the U.S. said was engaged in spying over North America before shooting it down.
The Biden administration has sent a parade of high-level officials to Beijing to jump-start a reset, and other U.S. political leaders have followed suit. In recent weeks, Xi has met with a bipartisan delegation of U.S. senators, led by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), and with California Gov. Gavin Newsom. For Xi to see those politicians wasn’t required by diplomatic protocol, U.S. officials said, as Chinese leaders typically stick to meeting their direct counterparts.
When meeting Newsom, Chinese state media said, Xi recalled memories of visiting California decades ago. Wang, seeing Biden at the White House on Friday, carried a message from Xi that in part said they should “look toward San Francisco,” according to China’s Foreign Ministry.
Andrew Restuccia contributed to this article. Write to Charles Hutzler at [email protected]