President Joe Biden will meet face-to-face with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, on

 Wednesday, breaking a yearlong silence marked by rising tensions that have stoked fears

 the two countries are on a path toward war.

The summit will take place in San Francisco in the morning at a location U.S. officials

 declined to reveal out of security concerns.

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Edited by| Hugh Gey

 

Politic section -  CJ journalist

 

SAN FRANCISCO - November,15,2023

 

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It will be the first time that Biden and Xi have talked — much less met — since a meeting on

 the sidelines of an international summit in Bali, Indonesia, a year ago.

Since that time, relations between the U.S. and China have soured in ways that elevate the

 risk of an unwanted confrontation, U.S. officials said. As an example, when the Biden

 administration shot down a Chinese spy balloon that flew across the United States in

 February, the Pentagon had no one in China to contact because Beijing had closed an

 important military communications channel, a senior Biden administration official told

 reporters Tuesday while previewing the Biden-Xi meeting.

“It is true that when the Chinese spy balloon went across the United States, we had no way

 to communicate with the Chinese,” the official said. “That’s not responsible and we hope to

 at least take some preliminary steps" toward improving communications.

U.S. officials believe that Biden enters the meeting from a position of strength. While the

 Chinese economy is struggling with high youth unemployment and disinvestment from

 foreign companies, Biden has boasted of robust economic growth in the U.S., accompanied

 by a low jobless rate.

No major breakthroughs were anticipated in advance of the summit. But the two leaders are

 expected to agree on steps to curb the flow of fentanyl from China to the U.S. and revive

 military communication channels that China closed in response to then-House Speaker

 Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan last year.

“One of the key objectives that President Biden has is the resumption of military-to-military

 contact,” the senior official  said. “So, we want to see operational dialogues, we want to see

 policy dialogues at the highest level and we want to see the commanders have a dialogue

 about operations in the Indo-Pacific.”

Another of Biden's aims may prove tougher to realize. Biden would like to see China use its

 influence with Iran to prevent the Israel-Hamas war from widening. He is likely to press Xi to

 call on Iran to stay clear of the war and keep its proxies in Middle East from attacking Israel.

At lower governmental levels, U.S. officials have already made that point to the Chinese,

 telling them that “any escalation would be met forcefully by the United States, and to urge

 the leaders in Tehran not to not spur elements in the region that could lead to a wider

 conflagration,” the senior official said.