Advertisement
Joe Biden says ‘sure’ to see China’s Xi Jinping if he joins G20 meeting in Bali
- US president’s travel plans have not been confirmed, though Indonesia’s Widodo has said that both Xi and Russia’s Putin will attend the summit
- Chinese and US leaders have not met in person since Biden’s election, and their contact has been limited to phone and video calls
Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
16
US President Joe Biden said he is “sure” he will see Xi Jinping at the coming G20 summit in Indonesia if the US and Chinese leaders both attend, in what would be their first face-to-face meeting since Biden took office more than a year and a half ago.
Advertisement
“If he’s there, I’m sure I’ll see him,” Biden told reporters on Tuesday at a cabinet meeting at the White House.
The brief comments came as US-China tensions soar over Taiwan, human rights, trade disputes and other issues, and gave one of the clearest signs in recent weeks that Biden has not ruled out a direct, in-person meeting with his Chinese counterpart even as the two countries’ badly damaged relationship shows few if any signs of improvement.
Biden and Xi last spoke by phone on July 28 amid already high levels of friction between the two sides. Both leaders said at the time they were committed to meeting in person.
Xi warns Biden that US ‘playing with fire’ as tensions soar over Pelosi’s proposed Taiwan visit
A senior US administration official said after their call that “a conversation about a face-to-face meeting [was] being worked out” between Washington and Beijing.
Advertisement
Advertisement