LIMA, Peru — President Biden will meet with Chinese language President Xi Jinping on Saturday on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Lima, Peru, his nationwide safety adviser Jake Sullivan instructed reporters on Wednesday.
That is the third assembly between the 2 leaders throughout Biden’s time period in workplace, and more likely to be the ultimate one. Their final assembly was a couple of yr in the past in Woodside, Calif.
The assembly comes as Biden prepares at hand the reins of energy to President-elect Donald Trump. Biden plans to inform Xi that “we have to keep stability, readability, predictability via this transition” and that over the long run, communication channels between the 2 governments want to stay open, particularly on the military-to-military stage, Sullivan mentioned.
“It is an essential assembly. It won’t be only a valedictory, though there can be a component of reflecting over the course of their lengthy relationship,” he mentioned. “There may be precise work to do on this essential second between the U.S. and China to make sure that we do not run into any issues within the subsequent two months on this transition of energy.”
Biden desires to “consolidate progress” on areas the place there may be widespread floor between the 2 nations — on stemming the circulate of illicit fentanyl, handle the dangers related to synthetic intelligence, and local weather points, Sullivan mentioned.
Biden had constructed on components of Trump’s China coverage throughout his time period, elevating conferences of the casual grouping often known as the Quad — the U.S., Japan, India and Australia — and sustaining Trump’s tariffs on China, for essentially the most half.
Biden additionally put in place new export management measures for delicate applied sciences, to stop them China from utilizing them.
Sullivan mentioned he sees some continuity between the 2 administrations , singling out Rep. Mike Waltz, who Trump named as his nationwide safety adviser, and Sen. Marco Rubio, who Trump will nominate for Secretary of State, for his or her concentrate on the strategic challenges posed by China.
Trump threatened throughout his marketing campaign to hike tariffs on China once more. Biden might use his assembly with Xi to underscore that China wants to vary its commerce practices, not simply threaten retaliation, mentioned Danny Russel, a high State Division official within the Obama administration, in an interview.
“I’d look to Biden to make some sensible factors, as a result of the chance of the Trump administration imposing tariffs is actual,” mentioned Russel, now with the Asia Society. “And that needs to be a clarion name to the massive offenders like China that they should regulate their insurance policies and their practices.”