Biden will meet Xi Jinping after a year. Trade and the crisis in the Middle East are on the agenda

American President Joe Biden will hold talks with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in San Francisco next Wednesday in an effort to “stabilize” mutual relations, American officials told the media today. Specifically, according to them, the meeting should concern trade relations, Taiwan, the war in Ukraine and the crisis in the Middle East, the world’s press agencies inform.

The leaders of the world’s two largest economies will meet again a year after the last meeting, which took place in Indonesia last year. In California, they will follow up this event with talks on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, which begins on Saturday.

China’s Foreign Ministry said Xi will be in the United States from November 14 to 17, according to Reuters. It confirmed the meeting with Bidenhowever, did not specify specific topics.

There has been speculation about a new meeting for weeks, but the date was confirmed only today. The summit follows a series of talks between Chinese and American officials, who have discussed possible joint action on nuclear weapons this week for the first time in years. At the end of October, Biden spoke with the highest-ranking Chinese diplomat Wang Yi in Washington, and last weekend the US climate commissioner John Kerry and his Chinese counterpart Xie Chenchua held talks.

When announcing the date of the summit, US officials mentioned a wide range of topics that Biden wants to raise, from long-term strained economic relations to the fight against climate change to “regional and global issues”. According to Washington, the US president will appeal to Beijing “as part of its flourishing relationship with Iran” to discourage Tehran from fueling conflicts in the Middle East. In connection with Ukraine, the Americans have long called on China not to develop a military partnership with Russia.

The meeting in San Francisco is not expected to result in a major announcement or settlement of the long-running dispute, according to the AP. Instead, one US official described the significance of the event as Biden wanting to “manage the rivalry, avoid the risk of conflict and ensure that the channels of communication remain open.”