President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to talk Saturday during an international summit in Peru — the first time in seven months that the leaders have spoken.
Efforts to shore up their nations’ already battered relations ahead of Donald Trump’s return to the White House will be fraught with tensions over cybercrime, trade and Russia.
The huddle, likely the last before Biden leaves the White House, will take place on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Lima where several Pacific Rim leaders are taking stock of what’s to expect come Jan. 20.
Washington is furious over recent China-linked hackers targeting State Department officials, members of the Trump family and Biden administration aides as part of a shocking breach of telecommunications systems, and is deeply concerned about Beijing ramping up pressure on China and Taiwan to support Russia.
China’s economy, meanwhile, had suffered from Biden’s recent restrictions on trade with Beijing, including rules barring US investment in Chinese technology such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, as well as curbing exports on advanced computer chips, experts said.
Looming over their huddle, however, is what the coming return of Trump could mean for Beijing.
The president-elect has vowed to impose 60% tariffs on all goods imported from China as part of his “America First” trade policies, on top of a universal tariff of 10 to 20% for all goods imported into the United States.
He also has tapped a number of China hawks for positions in his cabinet, including Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) for Secretary of State and Rep. Mike Waltz as National Security Adviser.
Beijing is looking to use the meeting as a way to ease tensions with the United States over the next two months, Shen Dingli, a Shanghai-based international relations scholar, told Reuters.
“China definitely does not want relations with the United States to be thrown into turmoil before Trump formally takes office,” Shen said.
The current transition period between the administrations is “a time when competitors and adversaries can see possibly opportunity,” National Security Adviser Jake said on Wednesday.
He added that Biden will emphasize to Xi the “need to maintain stability, clarity, predictability through this transition between the United States and China.”
With Post wires
