WASHINGTON: Of all the issues dividing the United States and China – spy balloons, Beijing’s rapid nuclear buildup and Washington’s crackdown on advanced computer chips – the White House has been engaged in one more topic of debate: what China’s leader will see when he looks out of his window during his visit to California this week.
When President Joe Bidenmeets President Xi Jinping Wednesday, China’s diplomats want to know what Xi will be looking at, and to make sure the scenery does not include protesters.Nearly every minute they spend together will be part of a highly choreographed diplomatic dance, one designed to give them the space to try to defuse a year of bubbling tensions. But compared with the US-China summits of a decade ago or more, expectations for substantive agreement are minimal, at best.
Biden’s advisers hinted at only one concrete agreement likely to emerge from the meeting, scheduled at the end of the APEC summit. The leaders, they said, could announce a resumption of military-to-military communications, which were suspended by China after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in 2022.
And both sides have been discussing whether they could find a way to a future commitment to keep artificial intelligence software out of their nuclear command and control systems. While that might seem to be a pretty straightforward discussion, until now China has never entered a significant negotiation about its fast-expanding nuclear arsenal, so even the first wedge into the issue could prove significant.
US officials say there is no plan for the leaders to issue a joint statement of any kind. Instead, each government will provide its own account of the discussions.
While Biden plans to address China’s shipment of technology to Russia to feed the Ukraine war, and its purchases of sanctioned Russian and Iranian oil, there is little to no prospect of changed behaviour, officials said.
Jake Sullivan, the president’s national security adviser, said the relationship is now about “managing competition responsibly so that it does not veer into conflict. The way we achieve that is through intense diplomacy.”
Chinese officials say Xi will seek assurances that the US “does not seek a new Cold War.” Chief among China’s concerns has been the Biden administration’s efforts to build up a patchwork of old allies and new partners in the Indo-Pacific to counter China’s ambitions.
Both men will be feeling each other out about a potential conflict over Taiwan.
Biden is also expected to stress to Xi that an expanded war in the Middle East “is not in the interests of the PRC,” and that the US will respond if Iranian proxies continue to attack US forces.
When President Joe Bidenmeets President Xi Jinping Wednesday, China’s diplomats want to know what Xi will be looking at, and to make sure the scenery does not include protesters.Nearly every minute they spend together will be part of a highly choreographed diplomatic dance, one designed to give them the space to try to defuse a year of bubbling tensions. But compared with the US-China summits of a decade ago or more, expectations for substantive agreement are minimal, at best.
Biden’s advisers hinted at only one concrete agreement likely to emerge from the meeting, scheduled at the end of the APEC summit. The leaders, they said, could announce a resumption of military-to-military communications, which were suspended by China after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in 2022.
And both sides have been discussing whether they could find a way to a future commitment to keep artificial intelligence software out of their nuclear command and control systems. While that might seem to be a pretty straightforward discussion, until now China has never entered a significant negotiation about its fast-expanding nuclear arsenal, so even the first wedge into the issue could prove significant.
US officials say there is no plan for the leaders to issue a joint statement of any kind. Instead, each government will provide its own account of the discussions.
While Biden plans to address China’s shipment of technology to Russia to feed the Ukraine war, and its purchases of sanctioned Russian and Iranian oil, there is little to no prospect of changed behaviour, officials said.
Jake Sullivan, the president’s national security adviser, said the relationship is now about “managing competition responsibly so that it does not veer into conflict. The way we achieve that is through intense diplomacy.”
Chinese officials say Xi will seek assurances that the US “does not seek a new Cold War.” Chief among China’s concerns has been the Biden administration’s efforts to build up a patchwork of old allies and new partners in the Indo-Pacific to counter China’s ambitions.
Both men will be feeling each other out about a potential conflict over Taiwan.
Biden is also expected to stress to Xi that an expanded war in the Middle East “is not in the interests of the PRC,” and that the US will respond if Iranian proxies continue to attack US forces.
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