Biden, Xi Jinping to meet during APEC Summit
SAN FRANCISCO -- The APEC Summit will bring both President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping to the Bay Area this week and they are set to meet face-to-face on Wednesday.
Their meeting isn't the focal point of the APEC Summit -- it's happening on the sidelines -- but the world will be watching on, as U.S.-China relations have deteriorated in recent years.
That includes the rest of APEC's 21 member economies, according to UC Berkeley's Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Vinnie Aggarwal.
"I must say, a lot of these countries and members are very concerned about the fact that the United States and China always seem to be at loggerheads," he said. "They're trying to figure out what they should do."
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President Biden and President Xi are expected to discuss numerous topics, such as re-opening military communications channels that have been cut off, fentanyl production, security tensions, ongoing wars in the world, managing competition, and more.
Though it's a highly anticipated meeting, there are low expectations it will produce major breakthroughs on some of the heated issues, such as trade and Taiwan.
But Aggarwal says it's a positive sign that the two leaders are set to meet.
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"We've seen a downward spiral with U.S.-China relations. I think the fact that President Biden is going to meet with President Xi will help bring a bottom to that downward spiral and will start going back up in terms of cooperation," he said.
When it comes to the timing of the meeting and the summit, Aggarwal sees this as a good opportunity for the rest of the member economies.
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"I think this gives them a chance to actually get together and talk some sense into the United States and China," he said. "All of these middle-level, middle-size countries and some of the small countries are highly dependent on the Chinese market and the American market. They'd like to know that there isn't going to be this massive trade war where they will actually be the biggest losers."
The meeting will be the seventh time the two leaders have interacted over the course of Biden's presidency, and the second time they'll meet in person. This is President Xi's first trip to the United States in six years.
