China plans to hold the Biden Xi meeting next month if the talks in Alaska go well

Photographer: Feng Li / AFP / GettyImages

People familiar with the situation said Beijing is looking forward to a meeting between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping next month if the first high-level talks between the United States and China in Alaska starting on Thursday are fruitful.

One person said the Biden-Xi meeting, as envisioned by Chinese officials, would be organized around Earth Day on April 22 to show the two leaders’ focus on combating climate change. Indeed, Biden was ready to bring world leaders together on that day to propel the world toward a greater ambition to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Wall Street Journal was the first to publish a forecast for the meeting.

Both the United States and China played down expectations about the talks in Alaska, scheduled for Thursday and Friday local time. Foreign Minister Anthony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan will represent the United States, while Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Politburo member Yang Jiechi will speak on behalf of China.

Speaking to the state-run China Central Television, Cui Tiankai, the Chinese ambassador to the United States, said that China’s expectations for the meeting were not “very high.” He added that he would be successful if he started a “honest, constructive and rational” dialogue.

The two countries contested how to describe the talks, with the United States questioning China’s description of the meeting as a “high-level strategic dialogue.” Blinken said Wednesday it would be an opportunity to ‘speak very directly, face to face, with our Chinese counterparts about the concerns that United State He has, our allies and partners have some of the things that China is doing. “

China has that Urge the Biden administration to drop tariffs and sanctions imposed during Donald Trump’s presidency, as well as measures to restrict sales of key technology to Chinese companies. The State Department said in Beijing last week that the United States was “not a reliable country to trust” after government officials placed restrictions on Huawei Technologies. Have tightened.

China announced that trials will start Friday against two Canadians accused of violating national security laws who were arrested in December 2018 shortly after the arrest of Huawei CEO Meng Wanzhou, daughter of founder Ren Chengfei. China has often linked the issues to the Ming case, with a foreign ministry spokesman telling reporters last year that stopping the extradition “could open the way for resolving the situation of Canadians.”

Since Biden took office, the United States and China have quarreled over the phone over issues such as Hong Kong, Taiwan and Xinjiang, which Beijing says are “domestic” issues. But US officials have also tried to draw attention to areas of potential cooperation, including climate change and non-proliferation.

White House Press Secretary Jane Basaki told reporters on Tuesday that the Alaska meeting was not intended to raise expectations about regular meetings between the parties.

She said, “I’m not going to think of this as a string.” “This is a meeting attended by the National Security Adviser and our Secretary of State, and I will not build it at this stage.”

Moses Yarborough

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