Biden seeks to meet Chinese president

U.S. President Joe Biden intends to have a summit talk with Chinese President Xi Jinping after his trip to South Korea and Japan when the U.S. government plans to accelerate the Indo-Pacific Strategy to keep China in check. In a fifth summit talk with China since President Biden’s inauguration, the two heads of state will stage a war of nerves discussing a variety of topical issues regarding North Korea’s nuclear pursuit, Taiwan-related matters and the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) that aims to exclude China from the global supply network.

U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Thursday (local time) that it may come as no surprise that President Biden will talk to President Xi on the phone in the coming weeks. He may have coordinated a schedule for a U.S.-China summit talk in a telephone conversation in the previous day with Yang Jiechi, a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party and the director of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission General Office of China.

The next summit talk between Washington and Beijing, once it takes place, will be the first since March when the two leaders had the tension-filled moment to discuss Russia’s invasion into Ukraine. This time, the bone of contention will be Washington’s policy against China including the launch of the IPEF. President Xi is projected to show strong opposition arguing that the U.S. efforts to exclude China from the supply chain will only fail. Director Yang reportedly warned that Washington will not be able to make any successful attempt to instigate division and resistance driven by factionalism on the phone with advisor Sullivan.

Issues with North Korea and Taiwan are also major items on the agenda. Advisor Sullivan said that Washington made it clear to China that any North Korean provocation will be met with stringent response, adding that China will have to consider using every tool at its disposal to reduce the chance of Pyongyang’s provocations. Regarding Taiwan-related issues, he delivered a warning message that China only builds up tension over the issues with Taiwan.


weappon@donga.com