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Xi-Biden summit confirmed for Wednesday, ‘contentious’ issues on the table
- Washington and Beijing say the Chinese and American presidents will sit down at Apec forum for ‘in-depth’ discussion of ‘major issues’
- The leaders are expected to discuss Ukraine, Gaza conflicts as well as the strategic direction of the bilateral relationship
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Robert Delaneyin Washington
Presidents Xi Jinping and Joe Biden will sit down for a summit on Wednesday, on the sidelines of the annual Apec meetings in San Francisco, for a range of “potentially contentious” topics including the need for military-to-military dialogue, according to the White House.
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Beijing has also confirmed that the meeting will go ahead. China’s foreign ministry said on Friday that Xi would go to San Francisco from Tuesday to Friday, where he would meet his US counterpart and attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
In Biden’s second face-to-face meeting with Xi as president, they would discuss “the strategic direction of the bilateral relationship, the importance of restoring military-to-military dialogue, Russia’s war in Ukraine and the Israel-Gaza conflict”, a senior Biden administration official said.
“I think it’s fair to say we’re going to cover a whole range of topics that are potentially contentious,” she said in a call with reporters.
Where China stands on the Israel-Gaza war
“One area we have covered in the past in various high-level meetings is our concerns about potential election influence operations. I would anticipate that this issue could come up again.”
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Calling channels of military communication “absolutely critical”, the official stressed the importance of keeping these lines open “both at senior levels of our military but also operator to operator”.
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