China Pressing US To Schedule Xi-Biden Summit - Reports

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd January, 2021) China has been pressing President Joe Biden's administration to explore holding a summit between the two nations' leaders in an attempt to reset the troubled relationship, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

In December, soon after Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated Biden on his election victory, Beijing raised the idea of dispatching Politburo member Yang Jiechi to Washington, the report said, citing people with knowledge of the initiative. The proposal, the report added, was conveyed through letters by the Chinese ambassador to the United States and other intermediaries.

Beijing was planning to bring a message to Biden related to issues other than trade, which was a priority under the Trump administration, according to the report.

Since Biden was emphasizing climate change and the pandemic, Yang plans to also focus on those issues, as well as getting in sight a summit between Biden and Xi, the report said.

Former President Donald Trump had launched a major trade war with China and accused it of Currency rigging and theft of US intellectual property. Trump also accused China of deliberately spreading the COVID-19 to the world, calling it the "Chinese virus", to the consternation of Beijing, which responded by saying the former president had politicized the pandemic ahead of the US election in November.

However, Biden himself, his cabinet nominees and other administration officials said the US will crack down on China for alleged unfair trading practices and human rights abuses.