Xi Jinping Arrives In The US For APEC Summit

It is President Xi Jinping’s first visit to the United States since 2017. Later on Wednesday in San Francisco, California, the heads of the two biggest economies in the world; Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden will have one-on-one discussions.

As part of the yearly Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference in the city, the presidents of the biggest economies in the world are scheduled to gather at an unknown location.

This is Xi’s first visit to the US in any capacity since 2017, and it will mark the first face-to-face, one-on-one meeting between the two presidents since last November.

The discussions take place amid tense relations between the US and China as China gains ground on the US as the largest economy in the world and becomes more assertive on several foreign policy topics where it disagrees with the US or its allies.

At the same time, major US and European corporations are considering lowering their reliance on China, in part due to the financial consequences of imposing sanctions on Russia during its conflict in Ukraine. After Beijing became enraged by the initial allusions to this as “decoupling” from China, western nations began searching for more neutral words for the process, such as “de-risking.”

“We’re not trying to decouple from China. What we’re trying to do is change the relationship for the better,” Biden said on Tuesday.

The more aggressive trade policies of former US President Donald Trump, many of which Biden maintained after taking office, had already alarmed China.

“To get back on a normal course, corresponding and being able to pick up the phone and talk to one another in a crisis, and being able to ensure that our militaries still have contact with one another,” Biden stated in an interview with reporters before leaving for San Francisco.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby informed reporters that Biden and Xi would probably discuss the geopolitical issues of North Korea’s missile tests, the US efforts to support Ukraine in its war against Russia, the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza, and other matters while aboard Air Force One on their way to San Francisco.

Kirby told reporters that although Biden will “not be afraid to confront where confrontation is needed on certain issues where we don’t see eye-to-eye,” he will also look for areas where cooperation is possible, including climate change.