Biden, Xi to meet in San Francisco
US and China agree on a summit at APEC meeting in mid-November.
United States and Chinese officials have agreed President Joe Biden and China President Xi Jinping will meet for a summit in San Francisco in mid-November at the annual meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders.
The understanding follows months of diplomatic outreach to Beijing by the United States and a three-day visit to Washington last week by China’s top foreign minister Wang Yi.
Wang met with President Biden for an hour at the White House on Friday and talked separately with National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. Wang held two rounds of talks with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Wang communicated Beijing’s view that Taiwan independence is a threat to peace and stability in the Asia Pacific and the biggest challenge to US-China relations. He discussed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Ukraine, and the Korean nuclear issue with US officials.
“The two sides agreed to work together for the meeting between the two heads of state in San Francisco,” China Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a media briefing in Beijing on Monday.
“I want to stress that it won’t be plain sailing to San Francisco, nor can we leave it to autopilot to get us there,” Wenbin said.
Working groups are discussing maritime affairs, arms control and non-proliferation, Wenbin said, noting the two sides have agreed to increase direct passenger flights to 70 per week. The US is concerned about aggressive conduct of China’s military in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait.
“Both sides need to earnestly return to what was agreed in Bali, act on the common understandings of the two presidents, rise above disruptions, overcome obstacles, expand common understandings and accumulate outcomes,” the ministry spokesperson said.
Biden and Xi last met face-to-face in Bali, Indonesia, in November 2022 on the sidelines of a G20 summit meeting. At the time, Beijing had stopped dialogue on climate change and military contacts following House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August that year. The two leaders exchanged views on Taiwan and agreed to try to broadly improve relations through increased communication.
Biden will travel to San Francisco on November 14 to host representatives from 21 APEC countries, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced on Friday. Buoyed by a strong US economy, Biden will tout “job-creating” trade and investment ties between the US and Asia Pacific economies, she said.
In Washington, Wang met with representatives of the US-China Business Council, a nonprofit association of more than 275 US companies doing business in China.
“A successful APEC meeting between President Biden and President Xi would help ease geopolitical tensions and further benefit our countries,” the council said in a statement on October 28, noting “the vast amount” of trade between the US and China “does not involve national security.”
Glaser: Doubts about a Taiwan invasion
Bonnie Glaser, managing director of the Indo-Pacific Program at the German Marshall Fund writes in The New York Times that Russia’s failures in Ukraine have raised doubts in China about taking Taiwan.
“The Chinese president has repeatedly asserted that doing so is vital to achieving his ‘China Dream’ of national rejuvenation. He has instructed the Chinese military to be prepared by 2027 to take Taiwan by force, if necessary, and China increasingly uses its growing “military might to intimidate Taiwan’s people into yielding to Chinese control. Last month, it staged large-scale naval drills involving an aircraft carrier in waters east of Taiwan and, days later, flew 103 warplanes toward the island — a single-day record.”
“But this bluster masks significant misgivings within China’s leadership about whether its largely unproven People’s Liberation Army forces can seize and control Taiwan at an acceptable cost, doubts that have very likely been accentuated by Russia’s military failures in Ukraine. In this light, a PLA takeover of Taiwan is not inevitable nor, perhaps, even likely in the next few years, which gives the United States and Taiwan time to bolster their military capabilities and avert conflict.”
Beijing faces slowing economy
China’s leaders are meeting in Beijing this week to discuss ways to get their slowing economy back on track, The Associated Press reported from Bangkok.
China’s National Financial Work Conference, usually held twice a decade, began Monday in Beijing. Officials face challenges mending China’s fractured property market, creating jobs, and spurring growth.
“The meeting follows Beijing’s announcement last week of plans to issue 1 trillion yuan ($330 billion) in bonds for infrastructure projects and disaster prevention.”
“By dipping deeper into deficit, the government is looking to counter a sharp slowdown in housing construction. Economists say the challenge lies in finding ways to ensure sustainable, balanced growth while unwinding massive debt held by real estate developers, local governments and regional banks.”
China is incapable of succesfully invading Taiwan for at least 5 years. You must presume you have no more than 5 years to prepare for that invasion and others too.