Intensive high-level talks between China and the United States: Final preparations for Xi-Biden leaders summit

On June 10, Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister Wei Fenghe, who attended the 19th "Shangri-La Dialogue" in Singapore, held talks with US Secretary of Defense Austin, who was also attending the conference.

On June 13, Yang Jiechi, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, held a meeting in Luxembourg with National Security Assistant to the US President Sullivan.

On July 5, Liu He, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Vice Premier of the State Council, and Chinese leader of the China-US Comprehensive Economic Dialogue, held a video call with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen at the request.

From July 7th to 8th, the G20 foreign ministers' meeting was held in Bali, Indonesia. China and the United States shared briefings on the 5th at the same time. Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi will meet with the US Secretary of State on July 9th.

In just one month, senior officials in charge of defense, security, economic and foreign affairs of China and the United States have had frequent phone calls or talks, reflecting that the relationship between the two countries is undergoing some positive changes under the main tone of game confrontation.

There is a high possibility that the two sides announced shortly after the series of talks that the top leaders of the two countries, Xi Jinping and Biden, will hold a head-of-state meeting.

Since Biden assumed the presidency of the United States, the leaders of China and the United States have held video meetings many times, but they have not yet held an offline summit.

Judging from the more thorough preparations made by senior officials in various fields before the meeting, the analysis believes that the offline summit between the two may be much more likely than the online meeting.

It is generally believed that if Xi Jinping and Biden hold an offline summit, the G20 summit in Indonesia in November and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Thailand in the same month are good opportunities.

And if the leaders of the two countries feel it is necessary, it may even be held earlier.

The picture shows U.S. Secretary of State Blinken speaking at George Washington University on May 26, 2022.

In his speech, he outlined the Biden administration's China policy.

The event is hosted by the Asia Society.

(AP)

Both China and the United States face a very important domestic political agenda this year.

China will hold the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in the second half of the year, a very important meeting, especially for Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who will become the first leader in decades to break the ten-year rule. , to start a new five-year term.

In China, due to reasons such as epidemic prevention and control and industrial policies, as well as external shocks such as Sino-US relations and the war in Ukraine, the economy has been under pressure and downward, market confidence continues to be low, and the economic operation is at risk of falling out of a reasonable range. There is an urgent need to create a stable and predictable atmosphere, and positive changes in Sino-US relations will inject positive factors into this.

In the United States, the midterm elections for the US Congress will also be held on November 8, when both Biden and the Democratic Party will usher in the "high school entrance examination" in power.

Under the influence of factors such as high domestic inflation, falling stock markets, and frequent shootings in the United States recently, Biden's domestic approval rate has fallen to about 36%, a new low since he took office.

Especially when the inflation rate has soared to 8.6%, the United States, on the one hand, is constrained by tough "political correctness" towards China, on the other hand, it hopes to cancel the punitive tariffs on China to deal with inflationary pressure and ease the burden on ordinary people , these are really dilemmas for Biden.

Furthermore, on the more sensitive Taiwan issue, out of the need to contain China, the United States has been manipulating the Taiwan issue and strengthening its military and diplomatic support for Taiwan. On the other hand, the United States is extremely worried about the Taiwan issue between China and the United States or between the two sides of the strait. The misjudgment caused the misjudgment and turned the political confrontation into a local war. If this is the case, not only will the United States face the difficult situation of fighting on the two fronts between Ukraine and Taiwan, but it may also lose the strategic pawn of Taiwan forever. Therefore, on the Taiwan issue, Biden also There needs to be some kind of bottom-line consensus with Chinese leaders.

Due to the above-mentioned reasons and the importance of Sino-US relations to regional and world stability, both sides are willing to inject "stability and certainty" into Sino-US relations. Judging from the recent frequent high-level dialogues between China and the US, both sides News about the summit between Xi and Biden may soon be announced.

Yang Jiechi and Sullivan frequently meet in the third country to consolidate China-US equality