With a successful "preliminary" visit, is a US-China summit definitely within reach?

It appears both Washington and Beijing are ready for a US-China summit on the sidelines of the upcoming Asia -Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. Both sides see enough sincerity in each other to sit down together.

Tín hiệu lạc quan về cuộc gặp thượng đỉnh Mỹ-Trung

US President Joe Biden met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the White House on October 28. (Source: Xinhua News Agency)

Being sincere enough for an important event.

A U.S. official said that President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping have agreed to meet on the sidelines of the APEC summit in San Francisco this November.

Specifically, the two sides reached an agreement in principle to hold a meeting on the sidelines of the APEC Summit when Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on October 27.

The official added that the two sides have yet to agree on specific details regarding the time, location, and other related logistical issues.

In a statement following the October 27 meeting, the White House said the two sides were “working toward” a face-to-face meeting between President Biden and President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the APEC Forum.

On the morning of October 27, Mr. Biden met with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and held a one-hour conversation in the Roosevelt Room at the White House. This was the latest in a series of high-level contacts between the two sides as they explore the possibility of stabilizing the increasingly strained US-China relationship amid conflicts in Ukraine and Israel.

The White House said President Biden “emphasized that both the United States and China need to manage competition in their relationship responsibly and maintain open channels of communication.” The leader also specifically noted that “the United States and China must work together to address global challenges.”

Previously, Beijing had not confirmed whether Xi Jinping would attend the annual APEC summit in San Francisco, which takes place from November 11-17.

On October 29, in a statement alluding to the planned meeting between President Xi Jinping and US President Biden, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that "the road to the San Francisco summit will not be smooth."

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said that Wang Yi made the remarks after discussions with members of the U.S. strategic community in Washington.

Last month, China's top security agency demanded that any meeting between President Xi Jinping and President Biden in San Francisco revolve around the U.S. "demonstrating sufficient sincerity."

"Stability" - beneficial for the whole world.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi recently completed a three-day visit to Washington (October 26-29) and met with top US officials.

According to Reuters , during the meeting, President Biden's top aides raised key concerns in Washington, such as the need to restore military channels between the two countries, Beijing's actions in the East China Sea and the South China Sea; and "frank exchanges" about the conflict erupting in the Middle East...

Speaking to reporters on October 28, US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby reiterated: "The meetings between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US officials are an opportunity for both sides to explore and find solutions to maintain open channels of communication, including military-to-military communication channels between the two sides, which have been closed."

Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived in Washington at a time when tensions between the two countries remain high, including over the issue of US export controls on advanced technologies and China's more assertive actions in the East China Sea and the South China Sea.

On October 26, the U.S. military released a video showing a Chinese fighter jet flying within 3 meters (10 feet) of a U.S. B-52 bomber over the South China Sea, narrowly avoiding a collision. Earlier this month, the Pentagon released video of some of the more than 180 incidents in which Chinese aircraft intercepted U.S. fighter jets over the past two years, part of a trend that U.S. military officials are concerned about.

According to analysts, Wang Yi's visit reflects the strong desire of both the US and China to stabilize and strengthen broad-based communication between the two sides. This would benefit not only the economies of both countries but also the world.

The last time the Chinese President visited the United States was in 2017, when former President Donald Trump hosted him at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. President Biden, who took office in 2021, has yet to host Xi Jinping on American soil. The two last met in Bali, Indonesia, in November 2022, on the sidelines of the G20 summit.

US-China relations began to strain in 2018 when the administration of former President Donald Trump imposed heavy tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods.

Yun Sun, director of the China Program at the Washington-based Stimson Center, believes the upcoming Biden-Xi Jinping summit will bring much-needed stability to the relationship between the two countries.

The expert emphasized: “The key word here is ‘stabilizing’ bilateral relations – not really improving them, but stabilizing them. The world needs the U.S. and China to follow a rational path and stabilize their relationship, giving the region and the world more certainty.”

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