China's Xi Looks To Steady Ties At APEC Meeting With Biden

Shanghai, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Nov, 2023) The last time Xi Jinping travelled to the United States was six years ago to meet an effusive Donald Trump, who had promised "a very, very great relationship".

Instead, US-China relations spiralled to lower and lower depths, with the Chinese president now looking to stabilise ties when he sits down with Joe Biden in San Francisco this week.

The two leaders will meet on the sidelines of the APEC summit in the California city, their first encounter in a year despite trade tensions, sanctions, and the question of Taiwan feeding quarrels between the world's largest economies.

Positive momentum from November 2022 talks between Xi and Biden in Bali was derailed when the United States shot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon, delaying a planned visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Since then, a flurry of high-level diplomacy, including Blinken's eventual trip to Beijing in June, has signalled ambitions on both sides to mend ties.

"I don't think anyone really has high hopes for the meeting in terms of there being concrete outcomes," said Joseph Liow from Singapore's Nanyang Technological University.

"This meeting is important for the symbolism that the leaders do want to set relations on a more stable footing."

Asked about Beijing's expectations for the meeting, China's foreign ministry remained vague, mentioning "in-depth communication" and "major issues concerning world peace".

"China attaches great importance to positive efforts to stabilise US-China relations," Chen Dingding, president of the Guangzhou-based think tank Intellisia Institute, told AFP.

Tactically for Beijing, "the key at present is to seek points of cooperation", said Lyu Xiang, US-Chinese relations expert at the Chinese academy of Social Sciences (CASS).