Michael Gabriel Hernandez
06 October 2023•Update: 06 October 2023
WASHINGTON
US President Joe Biden said Friday it is possible that he will have a meeting with his Chinese counterpart on the sidelines of next month's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco, California.
"There is no such meeting setup. But it is a possibility," Biden said at the White House in response to questions from reporters.
The comments come after multiple US media outlets reported Thursday that planning for the sit-down is actively underway. Should it materialize, the meeting would take place as Washington and Beijing work to mend relations that have been badly battered by a series of disputes.
That includes ongoing disagreements over trade, the status of Taiwan, and the US's downing of a suspected Chinese spy balloon In February that prompted Secretary of State Antony Blinken to call off a planned trip to China to meet with senior officials there.
Blinken has since flown to Beijing to speak with Chinese officials, as have other senior Biden administration officials, including Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Biden's special envoy for climate change John Kerry.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is now expected to visit Washington before month's end, and that trip could serve as a pivotal step towards setting up the Biden-Xi tete-a-tete.
Biden and Xi last sat down together in November 2022 at the G-20 summit when they struck notes of optimism about the prospects for improving the state of bilateral ties.
