On Wednesday, Biden and Xi will meet to discuss trade, Taiwan, and handling sensitive China-US relations

 On Wednesday, Biden and Xi will meet to discuss trade, Taiwan, and handling sensitive China-US relations

It is unlikely that any significant news will come out of the summit, and the disputes between the two powers won't be settled any way.

Both parties refrained from disclosing the location of the highly anticipated negotiations, seemingly to be carefully considering security for the gathering.

In their first meeting between the heads of the two largest economies in the world in over a year, President Joe Biden as well as President Xi Jinping of China will discuss trade, Taiwan, and handling tense U.S.-Chinese ties on Wednesday in California, according to Biden administration officials.

Negotiations continued right up to the night before the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in San Francisco, which begins on Saturday. The White House has been announcing for weeks that it expected Biden and Xi to meet on the sidelines.

The leaders will meet in the San Francisco Bay region, according to the officials, who briefed reporters on Friday within ground rules imposed by the White House. However, they refused to provide any other information because to security concerns. During the summit, thousands of protestors are anticipated to converge on San Francisco.

It is unlikely that any significant news will come out of the summit, and the disputes between the two powers won't be settled any way. Biden, according to one source, is more concerned with "managing the competition, preventing the possible negative consequences of conflict, making ensuring channels of communication are open."

There is no lack of challenging topics on the agenda.

The already complex relationship between the United States and China has become even more tense in the past year due to a number of issues, including Beijing's ire over new export restrictions on sophisticated technology, Biden's order to shoot down a Chinese spy balloon that had crossed the continental United States, and Chinese indignation over Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen's earlier visit to the United States. China asserts territorial claims on the island.

In addition, given the current state of unease about North Korea's accelerating ballistic missile testing and its supply of weapons to Russia for its conflict in Ukraine, Biden is probably going to put pressure on Xi to use China's influence over Pyongyang.

Additionally, the Democratic president is anticipated to inform Xi that he would want China to utilize its growing influence over Iran to explicitly state that Tehran or its allies should refrain from taking any actions that may escalate the conflict between Israel and Hamas. His government thinks it has significant power over Iran, which is a key supporter of Hamas, since China is a large consumer of Iranian oil.

The last time Biden and Xi saw one other was at the Group of 20 meeting in Bali, Indonesia, over a year ago. Biden voiced his outspoken objection to China's "coercive and increasingly aggressive actions" against Taiwan during the almost three-hour meeting. Other topics of discussion included Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Xi reiterated that "the Taiwan question is at the very core of China's core preferences, the bedrock of the fundamental foundation of China-U.S. relations, as well as the first red line that is forbidden to be crossed in China-U.S. relations."

The meeting next week coincides with the United States preparing for what could be a turbulent year for ties between the two countries given that Taiwan will conduct its presidential election in January as well as the United States will hold its own election in November.

China interprets formal US interaction with Taiwan as a push for the island's long-declared de facto independence to become permanent, a move that US officials claim they oppose. Although it does not have diplomatic ties with Taiwan that recognizes Beijing as the government of China according to the One China policy, the United States has insisted that Taiwan is a crucial partner in the Indo-Pacific region. According to a source, Biden plans to restate that the United States opposes any alteration to the current situation.

Disinformation specialists who testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee have cautioned that Beijing may want to attack the United States, causing rifts that might affect local election outcomes, particularly in districts where a significant portion of the electorate is Chinese-American.

According to one insider, the Biden administration has attempted to convey to the Chinese that any moves or meddling in the 2024 election will prompt very serious worries from our end.

The insiders also mentioned Biden's resolve to revive military-to-military contacts, which Beijing had mostly stopped after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's August 2022 visit to Taiwan.

Meanwhile, there have been an increasing number of risky or aggressive incidents between the ships and planes of the two countries.

A Chinese fighter aircraft was seen flying about 10 feet (3 meters) away from an American B-52 bomber over the South China Sea last month, almost resulting in an accident, according to footage supplied by the U.S. military. Film of some of the more than 180 Chinese aircraft intercepts of American jets over the course of the previous two years was made public by the Pentagon earlier that month; this is a pattern that American military leaders find alarming.

Lack of military-to-military interaction "raises the risk of an operative incident or miscalculation progressing into crisis or conflict," the Pentagon has warned.

Following a recent incident in which Chinese ships obstructed and crashed with two Filipino boats near a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, the sources claimed that Biden will reaffirm America's commitment to the Philippines.

China's neighbors, including the Philippines, are opposing Beijing's expansive claims to almost the whole sea.

"In October, I want to be exceedingly clear," said Biden. "The United States' defense commitment to the Republic of the Philippines is iron clad."

Both parties refrained from disclosing the location of the highly anticipated negotiations, seemingly to be carefully considering security for the gathering.

During the summit, thousands of protestors against corporate policies, the Israel-Hamas conflict, climate damage, and other causes are anticipated to converge on San Francisco.

Chief Bill Scott of the San Francisco Police agency said that although his agency anticipates many demonstrations daily, it is uncertain which ones will take place and at what time. The city, he stated, supports people's right to peaceful assembly but would not put up with violence, property damage, or any other kind of criminal activity.