By Aamer Madhani and Colleen Long - The Associated Press
President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet Wednesday in California to discuss trade, Taiwan and managing strained U.S.-China relations in the first engagement between the leaders of the world's two largest economies in nearly a year, Biden administration officials said.
The White House has said for several weeks that it anticipated Biden and Xi would meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco, but negotiations dragged on until the eve of the meeting, which begins Saturday.
U.S. President Joe Biden greets China's President Xi Jinping at a summit in Bali, Indonesia, Nov. 14, 2022.Alex Brandon/AP
The officials, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity under rules set by the White House, said Friday that the leaders would meet in the San Francisco Bay Area but declined to offer further details because of security concerns. Thousands of protesters are expected to descend on San Francisco during the summit.
"We're in competition with China, but we're not looking for a confrontational confrontation or a new Cold War," a senior White House national security official said of the meeting, quoted by The New York Times. "We are in favour of managing the competition responsibly. We will come to the meeting confident in our overall approach and position. First, we're going to start pivoting with game-changing investments in fortress America at home."