The US and Chinese governments are “working out the modalities” of a possible session between the two countries’ presidents, Joe Biden and Xi Jinping, a White House official said on Tuesday, as Biden prepares to attend several high-level conferences in Asia this month.
“Our two staffs are still working out the modalities of a potential meeting between [Biden and Xi],” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said during a briefing.
“I don’t have one to announce today, but there’s still some staff-level work going on to see if that if that can if that can be brought about.”
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“It would be good to remember that the two leaders have talked now … five times, so the lines of communication between President Biden and President Xi remain open and we’ll see where this goes,” Kirby added, without confirming whether the two sides were close to securing an in-person session at the G20 summit in Indonesia this month.
Biden said in September he was “sure” he would see Xi at the G20 summit if both leaders attend. It would be their first face-to-face meeting since Biden took office in January 2021.
Kirby only noted that Biden is to depart next week for the 27th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, and then travel to Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, to participate in the annual East Asia Summit, before arriving at G20.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo said in August that Xi would attend the G20 summit on the resort island of Bali. The Chinese government has not said whether Xi would attend COP27 or the East Asia Summit.
This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP’s Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2022 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
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