Chinese leader Xi Jinping will arrive on the Indonesian island of Bali on Monday for a long-awaited meeting with US President Joe Biden ahead of a Group of 20 (G20) summit that will be fraught with tension over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The two leaders are expected to discuss the nuclear ambitions of Taiwan, Ukraine and North Korea, issues that will also loom large over the G20, which opens on Tuesday without Russian President Vladimir Putin. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will represent the Russian president at the G20 summit – the first since Russia invaded Ukraine in February – after the Kremlin said Putin was too busy to attend.
US lines of communication with China
On the eve of his meeting with Xi, Biden told Asian leaders in Cambodia that US lines of communication with China would remain open to avoid conflict, with tough talks almost certain in the coming days. The United States would “vigorously compete” with China and “ensure that competition does not escalate into conflict,” Biden said, stressing the importance of peace in the Taiwan Strait during a speech at an East Asia summit in Cambodia. He arrived in Bali on Sunday evening.
Relations between the superpowers have sunk to their lowest level in decades, marked by rising tensions in recent years over a range of issues from Hong Kong and Taiwan to the South China Sea, trade practices and US restrictions on Chinese technology. Tensions rose further after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s August trip to Taiwan, a self-governing democratic island that Beijing claims as its territory. The visit angered China, which subsequently began military exercises near Taiwan.
But U.S. officials said both Beijing and Washington had been making quiet efforts to mend relations in the past two months. “These meetings don’t happen in isolation, they’re part of a very ongoing process,” one Biden administration official said. “We engaged in serious, persistent – ​​dozens and dozens of hours – of quiet diplomacy behind the scenes.
“I think we’re pleased with the seriousness that both parties have brought to this process.” Biden and Xi, who have held five phone or video calls since Biden became president in January 2021, last met in person during the Obama administration when Biden was vice president. Monday’s face-to-face meeting will take place at The Mulia, a luxury beach hotel in Nusa Dua Bay, Bali. A joint statement is unlikely, the White House said, but it could help stabilize bilateral relations. The two leaders will attend the opening of the G20 summit on Tuesday.
China and Russia have worked together to deepen and expand their relationship
One of the main topics at the G20 will be Russia’s war in Ukraine, and Biden will be “unapologetic” in his defense of the European nation, US officials said last week. Xi and Putin have grown increasingly close in recent years, bound by a shared distrust of the West, reaffirming their partnership just days before Russia invaded Ukraine. But China is careful not to provide any direct material support that could trigger Western sanctions against it.
“There are areas where China and Russia have worked together to deepen and expand their relationship economically,” a Biden administration official said. “But on some of these big issues, I think there’s undeniably some discomfort in Beijing about what we’ve seen in terms of reckless rhetoric and activity on the part of Russia.”
Rishi Sunak is expected to meet Lavrov at the summit
Russian President Lavrov said on Sunday that the West was “militarizing” Southeast Asia in a bid to limit Russian and Chinese interests, setting the stage for another confrontation with Western leaders at the G20. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is expected to meet Lavrov at the summit, a Downing Street spokesman said in a statement. He is also likely to hold a bilateral meeting with Biden.
The G20 bloc, which includes a wide range of countries from Brazil to India and Germany, accounts for more than 80% of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP) and 60% of its population. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is set to join Indonesian President Joko Widodo to address the B20 parallel trade forum, which is being held on Monday ahead of the G20 summit. Billionaire Elon Musk is expected to join one of the sessions virtually.
