The U. S. President Joe Biden will be meeting up with Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping for likely the final time on Saturday, according to report from senior administration officials. This meeting is coming at a time where Beijing is preparing for a likely confrontational period with Washington under incoming president, Donald Trump.
The two leaders are expected to hold talks on global hot spots, and the heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Lima, Peru.
This will be their first known interaction since an April phone call.
Biden and Xi have tried to keep relations cordial over issues ranging from Taiwan to the South China Sea trade route, the North Korea and Russia, and American demands for more Chinese to help to stem the flow of the ingredients for fentanyl– the leading cause of U.S. drug overdoses.
Biden and Xi restored leader-level discussions last November that produced more cooperation on counter-narcotics efforts but little movement on important issues like a potential conflict over Taiwan, the democratically governed island that China is claiming as its own territory.
The Democratic administration finalised rules last month restricting U.S. from investing in artificial intelligence, quantum computing and semiconductors in China which will all take effect in January.
But both steps have been rejected by China as counterproductive.
Trump, a Republican, has vowed to adopt blanket 60% tariffs on U.S. imports of Chinese goods as part of a package of “America First” trade measures – a measure that Beijing had opposed yet again.
The president-elect’s early personnel choices have included several aggressive voices on China in senior positions, such as U.S. Representative Mike Waltz as national security adviser.
Xi reportedly called Trump last week to congratulate him on his November 5 election victory.
Trump will be sworn into office on January 20.
