President Joe Biden is scheduled to hold a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco in November, as announced by White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday.
This confirmation comes after extensive efforts by both nations to arrange a meeting between the two leaders in conjunction with the APEC event. Notably, the official acknowledgment of this meeting seemed to occur almost incidentally during the routine White House press briefing.
During the briefing, when questioned about the delay in making a formal announcement, Jean-Pierre contested the assumption behind the question.
The president expressed his anticipation for the upcoming meeting with President Xi, emphasizing that he wouldn’t delve into specific details about this forthcoming November meeting in San Francisco.
When asked for confirmation about the meeting’s occurrence, White House spokeswoman Jean-Pierre responded with a definitive “yes.”
“I believe we have been clear about that,” she added.
Although she later slightly tempered her statement by saying that the U.S. aimed to have a constructive conversation and meeting in San Francisco in November, Jean-Pierre eventually acknowledged that the meeting was indeed going to take place.
Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin, referencing earlier remarks by Foreign Minister Wang Yi, emphasized that the path to San Francisco should not be on autopilot. He highlighted the importance of returning to key common understandings reached in Bali and the need to fully implement these understandings between the two presidents to overcome disruptions, promote mutual understanding, and achieve tangible results. President Joe Biden
It’s worth noting that Biden and Xi have not had any direct communication since their meeting in November 2022 at the Group of 20 summit in Bali, Indonesia. While the two sides agreed in principle to a meeting following Wang’s visit in October, they withheld an official announcement as they worked to finalize the meeting’s details