President Joe Biden's highly anticipated virtual summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping will take place on Monday, the White House announced Friday. "Following their Sept. 9 phone call, the two leaders will discuss ways to responsibly manage the competition between the United States and the (People's Republic of China), as well as ways to work together where our interests align," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement. "Throughout, President Biden will make clear US intentions and priorities and be clear and candid about our concerns with the PRC." The talks come amid heightened tensions over Taiwan, trade and human rights. At the same time, the US and China unveiled a surprise pact this week on climate, underscoring some areas of cooperation. Biden had once hoped for an in-person summit with Xi, but the Chinese leader hasn't left China in nearly two years. The meeting will be Biden's first with Xi since he became president in January, and it comes as Xi hinted at a slight warming of relations with the US, according to a statement published on the website of the Chinese embassy to the US on Tuesday. In the letter, Xi said China is willing to "enhance exchanges and cooperation across the board" with the US and bring relations between the two world powers back on the right track. The last time Biden and Xi spoke was in September, in a phone call that lasted roughly 90 minutes. The two nations agreed to hold a virtual summit last month during an extended, six-hour meeting between Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan and China's top diplomat, Yang Jiechi. The two men met in Switzerland for talks touching on areas of cooperation and disagreement as tensions between their two countries have spiked over Taiwan. The official said that the tenor of that meeting was far removed from the fiery public exchange Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken had with Yang and State Councilor Wang Yi at a March meeting in Anchorage, Alaska. After that encounter, Chinese officials accused the US delegation of being "condescending" in tone, while a US official said the Chinese officials had seemed "intent on grandstanding." The two sides look to dial back tensions after a rough start to the US-China relationship since Biden took office earlier this year. The White House is setting low expectations for the video call between the leaders. Biden looks to stress that the two nations need to set guardrails in deepening areas of conflict in the increasingly complicated relationship between the two nations. White House officials said that no major announcements are expected to come from the meeting, The Associated Press (AP) reports. "I wouldn't set the expectation ... that this is intended to have major deliverables or outcomes," said Psaki, who added that the two leaders would discuss how to manage the countries' competition and cooperate in areas where interests align. The meeting will be the third engagement between the two leaders since February. It comes after the US and China this week pledged at UN climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland to increase their cooperation and speed up action to rein in climate-damaging emissions The virtual meeting was proposed after Biden, who spent a substantial amount of time with Xi when the two were vice presidents, mentioned during a September phone call with the Chinese leader that he would like to be able to see Xi again, according to the White House. "We hope the US will work together with China to jointly strive to make the leaders' summit a success and bring China-US ties back to the right track of sound and stable development," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Friday. Both leaders took part in Friday's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) virtual meeting, where leaders discussed efforts to end the COVID-19 pandemic and support the global economic recovery. — Agencies
