Joe Biden, Xi Jinping to hold virtual meet today; Taiwan in focus, all you need to know

United States President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping are all set to hold their much-awaited bilateral talks virtually on November 15. The meeting was proposed by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the sidelines of the Group of Twenty (G20) Summit while he engaged in an hour-long 'candid conversation' underscoring the importance of maintaining lines of communication to 'responsibly manage' competition between the US and the People's Republic of China (PRC). The meeting comes against the backdrop of escalating tensions between two of the largest economies in the world over several issues ranging from human rights to Chinese aggression in the Taiwan Strait.

While the meeting is expected to dial back cold conflicts following a rough start, White House press secretary Jen Psaki has set low expectations on any substantial outcome. 

"I wouldn't set the expectation...that this is intended to have major deliverables or outcomes," Psaki said, adding that the leaders will discuss areas of mutual interest that will help them manage competition, ANI reported.

President Biden, meanwhile, looks to stress on setting the 'guardrails' in deepening areas of conflict to ease tensions between the two nations, according to US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.

A Chinese diplomat has now warned the US to 'stop manipulating the Taiwan card to contain and encircle the Chinese mainland' ahead of the summit. Taiwan will definitely be a major point of concern between both leaders amid Washington and Beijing's back-and-forth jibes against each other over the country's sovereignty, Chinese experts said in state media tabloid Global Times. 

'It's hard to say whether China and the US will reach any consensus on this question, but the US has to make some concrete promises in accordance with the one-China principle and in response to China's concerns, otherwise it would affect the outcome of the meeting between the top leaders as well as the future China-US relationship," Wu Xinbo, dean of Institute of International Studies at the Fudan University told Global Times. 

Significance of Xi-Biden talks

According to a statement released by the White House on Friday, US President Biden and his Chinese counterpart will engage in responsible management of competition and look to "work in together where our interests align."

The BBC, quoting a source close to the White House, reported that the leaders would discuss thorny topics like cybersecurity, trade, and nuclear proliferation. Although expectations are fairly low, the virtual meet is a major step forward on its own as this is an indication that both sides want to repair the strained ties that have further taken a nosedive in the past year.

Matters related to Taiwan are also expected to remain a vital agenda for the meeting. Notably, Biden has wanted to maintain peace along the Taiwan Strait, while Jinping has been increasingly stringent about Taipei's sovereignty claims. The matter could make a considerable stable point in case Biden assures his counterpart of America's non-interference on Taiwan's sovereignty.

No shortage of tensions

The meeting is also being seen as an opportunity for President Biden to convince Xi Jinping to create a stable framework for bilateral relations after the latter's doctrine was once summed up by Blinken as "competitive... collaborative... adversarial."

As per the White House, the virtual meeting was originally proposed by Biden. It is worth mentioning that both the leaders have spent a substantial amount of time when the two were vice presidents. Since Jinping has not left China since the pandemic hit, a Zoom call was deemed as the best-fit alternative for the leaders to engage in substantive conversation. China has also expected to "jointly strive" to make the leaders' summit a success and restore US-China ties, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Friday, as per AP.

Earlier at the COP26 Summit, China and the US announced they would work together on cutting greenhouse gas emissions in the next decade. The decision came after US President Biden's criticism of China for missing the 'crucial' UN climate summit. 

(With inputs from AP, Image: ANI/AP)