A senior administration official said on Thursday that US President Joe Biden will be open about US concerns, particularly those on Taiwan and human rights when he meets with Chinese leader Xi Jinping next week in an effort to establish a “floor” for relations with Beijing.
Biden and Xi will speak to one another for the first time since Biden took office on November 14 during a summit of the Group of 20 countries in Indonesia, according to the White House.
The conference takes place in the midst of severely strained relations between the US and China, particularly following US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s August visit to Taiwan, the democratically self-governing island that Beijing claims as its own.
Since there were no hopes for concrete agreements to be reached, the senior administration official declared that there would be no joint statement from the meeting.
“The president believes it is critical to build a floor for the relationship and ensure that there are rules of the road that bound our competition,” the official discussed the meeting with reporters over the phone.
“I expect the president will be honest about a number of our concerns, including PRC (People’s Republic of China) activity that threatens peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, as well as our long-standing concerns about human rights violations,” the official stated.
The person stated that discussions over North Korea and Russia’s conflict in Ukraine were also anticipated.
