Biden team works on setting up meeting with China's Xi as he secures third term

 

Xi set a precedent by filling China's most powerful bodies with close allies, securing a third term.

Biden team works on setting up meeting with China's Xi as he secures third term

US officials said the US would not change its stance towards China as a result of Xi Jinping seizing more power in a major Communist Party Congress, with advisers still trying to set up a meeting between President Joe Biden and the Chinese leader .

State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Monday that the conclusion of last week's 20th Communist Party Congress, in which Xi installed allies in top positions and paved the way for a third five-year term, "does not change our approach to China". Is". That strategy includes competing with the People's Republic of China on security matters, cooperating wherever possible on global issues.

"We note the conclusion of the 20th Party Congress," Price told a briefing. "And we would welcome cooperation from the PRC where our interests align, and that includes cooperation on climate change and global health, counter narcotics, non-proliferation."

Earlier on Monday, Biden's National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the US would "keep the lines of communication open, and that includes at the leader level." He added that teams are still working through a possible meeting when world leaders will gather in Bali next month for a meeting of the Group of 20, which will be Biden's first meeting with Xi as president.

Xi filled China's most powerful bodies with close allies, while securing an example-breaking third term, moving away from the collective leadership model that underpinned the nation's rise to become the world's second-largest economy. People familiar with the Biden administration's thinking said US officials expected Xi to double down on separatist policies and project him to emerge from the party gathering and be more aggressive towards the US and other countries.

The 69-year-old Chinese leader added six trusted aides to the Politburo's Supreme Standing Committee on Sunday, putting his former chief of staff, Li Qiang, in line to become the country's premier. Those affiliated with the other camps failed to secure any positions of power, with Vice Premier Hu Chunhua shunning the wider 24-member Politburo altogether.

The move effectively places a group of Xi's loyal allies into key positions in the government, bridging the divide between the party and the state established after the chaotic regime of Mao Zedong that ended with his death in 1976.

Relations deteriorated further in August due to the visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan. Beijing responded with a series of military exercises and missile launches, which were condemned by the US and its allies.

"It's still unfortunate that the Chinese have stopped those working-level, bilateral contacts," Kirby said.

"For our part, we believe that there is no reason for Taiwan to step in or conflict because nothing has changed about our approach," he said.

The developments in Beijing are the latest example of a growing emphasis on ideology over pragmatism in Chinese policy-making, with fewer voices at the top questioning Xi's policies of Covid Zero, tighter controls on the private sector and a more assertive foreign policy. He ratified China's change in a more conservative direction, without a single woman in the Politburo, for the first time in a quarter century.