Biden willing to meet Xi if he attends G20 meeting in Bali

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
7 Sep 2022 00:08

The US president expressed willingness to meet with China's Xi ahead of the upcoming G20 meeting that will be held in November in Bali despite growing tensions between the two countries.

Joe Biden Met Xi Jinping In 2013

US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday said he was "sure" he'd meet Xi Jinping in November if the latter will attend a G20 meeting planned in Indonesia's resort island of Bali.

"If he's there I'm sure I'll see him," Biden told reporters at the White House.

Since becoming president in January 2021, Biden has not met with the Chinese leader, limiting contact between the two superpowers leaders to a series of phone and video calls.

Tensions have been mounting between the world's two biggest economies since US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island of Taiwan in early August.

China condemned Pelosi's trip, which it regarded as a gesture of support for separatism, and launched large-scale military exercises in the vicinity of the island.

The US has recently approved $1.1 billion for a potential arms deal with Taiwan which Taipei intends to use to increase its security budget.

Earlier today, China issued a call for the US to annul its $1.1 billion arms deal with Taiwan and to cease all military contacts with the country.

China has also criticized the NATO alliance, to which the US is it's de facto dictator, over its criticism of the Russian-Chinese partnership in the Arctic.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that it showed the Alliance's efforts to perpetuate the Cold War mentality and that it should immediately abandon "dangerous thinking", causing confusion in the world.

It is peculiar for Biden to express eagerness in meeting with Xi. China's strong relations with Russia have recently led to the paying for Russian gas in rubles and yuan rather than US dollars, as Moscow seeks stronger ties with Beijing in the aftermath of Western sanctions over Ukraine.

This obviously poses a challenge to the financial hegemony of the US dollar, which is the most widely used currency in international transactions - a challenge to its use as the standard currency in the commodity market as well as its direct impact on commodity prices.

In August, President Joko Widodo of Indonesia told Bloomberg that both Xi and Russia's President Vladimir Putin would be at the Group of 20 summit, also setting up the possibility of the first Biden-Putin encounter since the conflict between Russia and Ukraine began in February this year.

As for the White House, it has yet to confirm details of Biden's travel plans.