The Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed today that President Xi Jinping will travel to the United States to meet with his counterpart of that country, Joe Biden, and to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC). “The presidents will discuss in-depth strategic issues of fundamental importance in shaping the relationship between China and the United States and important issues relating to world peace and development,” said a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson.
Apart from the face to face between the two leaders, the Chinese Foreign Ministry highlighted that Xi’s attendance demonstrates the “great importance” that the country attaches to Asia-Pacific cooperation. “With increasing instability and uncertainty in the global economy, there is broad expectation that the Asia-Pacific (region) will continue to be an economic engine leading global growth,” he pointed.
Xi, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, “will give an important speech to explain in depth the China’s main proposals to deepen Asia-Pacific cooperation and harness regional and global growth. “We hope that all parties will remember what brought Asia-Pacific countries and regions together initially, to focus on the urgent needs of the regiondeepen solidarity and cooperation (…) and work to achieve positive results at the meeting,” the foreign ministry indicated.
The meeting between Xi and Biden will be the first since a year ago, when both leaders met in Bali (Indonesia) for three hours on the sidelines of the annual G20 summit. The meeting had already been advanced by the White House, but the Chinese Foreign Ministry had avoided confirming it in recent days.
The meeting between the leaders of both powers It’s one more step in the attempted thaw in recent months between Beijing and Washington after a year in which bilateral relations reached one of their lowest points due to issues such as the trade war and US sanctions on Chinese companies or the Taiwan question.