Biden and Xi meet for first time since spy balloon high drama

SAN FRANCISCO — President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping came face to face for what is expected to be an intense, hourslong meeting, their first since a Chinese spy balloon traversed the United States.

Against the backdrop of two wars and respective domestic political and economic problems, this is only Biden and Xi’s second in-person meeting, but their seventh engagement. They last sat down together last year on the sidelines of the Group of 20 leaders’ summit.

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Doug Mills/The New York Times via AP, Pool

With distance from the demonstrators whose protests have disrupted traffic in downtown San Francisco around the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, the leaders are anticipated to participate in a casual meet-and-greet before sitting down for a more formal bilateral meeting at the Filoli estate in San Mateo County. Biden then will hold a solo press conference on the grounds.

Biden and the White House have previewed announcements regarding the resumption of military-to-military communication, fentanyl, artificial intelligence, nuclear arms control, and climate. National security adviser Jake Sullivan and White House national security spokesman John Kirby also underscored that aside from Taiwan and the South China Sea, Biden and Xi additionally will discuss Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Israel’s war on Hamas as China grows closer to Russia and Iran.

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“We can fully expect that the president will make it clear on Taiwan that they’re essential to our One China policy, that we do not support Taiwan independence, that we do not want to see the tensions across the Taiwan Strait evolve into any kind of conflict, certainly not military, that we don’t want to see the status quo changed in a unilateral way and certainly not by force,” Kirby said Wednesday.