US President Joe Biden is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping around the second half of this month. As per the official source, President Biden may meet with his Chinese counterpart on November 15, 2023. As per the reports, the two leaders will meet in light of Asia-Pacific economic cooperation in San Francisco, United States. Speaking anonymously, the sources confirmed to Times Now, that the US government stated that the leaders will meet bilaterally as well during the summit. Despite the confidential confirmation, the officials of both countries have not made any official announcement yet.
The meeting at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation would be the first between Biden and Jinping since their talks at the sidelines of the G20 summit 2022 in Bali, Indonesia. With the meeting of the two leaders on the occasion, both the US and China would also be trying to strengthen their bilateral ties, which have been deteriorating since the start of the US-China indirect trade war.
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation held in the US
Source: Post Courier
The forum is a 21-member economic forum that was established in 1989. APEC is made up of countries including the US, that promote free trade and sustainable development among the Pacific Rim economies. This forum engages in multiple micro causes such as IPRs, and emergency preparedness and has many sub-groups that aim to advance the policies and action plans.
The initiation of APEC was fundamentally in response to the increasing interdependence of Asia-Pacific countries. The creation of the forum was initially in response to the increasing interconnectedness of Asia-Pacific countries in terms of trade and commerce. The formation of APEC can be seen as the proliferation of regional blocs in the late 20th century.
US-China ties hit
Following the spy balloon incident, tensions between the US and China began to rise. Moreover, the ongoing tussle between the two in terms of trade war has brought the relationship into the footnotes. Successive cold battles between the US and China have grappled with bilateral ties. The meeting can be a potential factor for both countries to come to a consensus for sorting the existing differences.
The tensions were also triggered by the US disagreement with China’s stance on the Russia-Ukraine war. In this context, the two countries are in different blocs. Even, the recent wave of detention and arrest by China is due to the claim that people were spying for the US government.
The current tussle between China and the US has also been raised because of the concern of a Chinese attack on Taiwan. China claims Taiwan is part of its territory and the US has supported the Republic of China for its democratic nature of governance so far. The future visit by Jinping to the US for APEC can be marked as a pathbreaking constructive conversation between the two leaders. The consensus can reduce the geopolitical volatility across the Indo-Pacific region.
Hope for the meet
The White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre mentioned that Washinton is hoping for effective interaction and meaningful outcomes from this bilateral conversation between Jinping and Biden. The meeting can make a historical moment to enhance the visibility of the cooperation between the two countries.
For India, the cooperation to some extent between the US and China can bring a cloud of hope for its ongoing border clashes. Though Indian forces proved that they were self-sufficient enough to deal with such kind of sudden conflicts, the diplomatic negotiation was still not very successful for India. Hence, the US, as the mediator between India and China can make the decision easier and can solve a long-standing border conflict.
