San Francisco Frontiers - Biden, Xi head into high-stakes summit

With tensions soaring over issues including Taiwan, sanctions and trade, the leaders of the world's largest economies are expected to hold at least three hours of talks at the Filoli country estate on the city's outskirts.

The two leaders have not met in person since they held talks in Bali in November 2022, and relations nosedived after the United States shot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon in February this year.

Biden and Xi will shake hands to launch the painstakingly choreographed meeting on the sidelines of an APEC summit at 10:45 am (1845 GMT), followed by closed-door talks in a ballroom that will include a working lunch.

Biden will then give a solo press conference at 4:15 pm (0015 GMT Thursday) to announce the results of the summit, the White House said.

The talks, which come after months of delicate diplomatic negotiations, come against the backdrop of a long struggle for global primacy between the United States and an increasingly assertive China.

One of the most sensitive issues is Taiwan, the self-ruling democracy over which Beijing claims sovereignty and which it has not ruled out seizing by force.

Biden was expected to tell Xi that "we do not want to see the tensions across the Taiwan Strait evolve into any kind of conflict", White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters hours before the meeting.

"We can fully expect that the president will make it clear on Taiwan that...we do not support Taiwan independence," he added.

- 'Real problems' -

Biden is also expected to "raise concerns over human rights in China" including the repression of the Uyghur Muslim minority, added Kirby.

The 80-year-old Biden held out an olive branch to Xi, 70, on the eve of the talks, insisting that the United States was "not trying to decouple from China" and wanted to improve the relationship.

But Biden could not resist adding at a fundraising dinner that under communist leader Xi China faced "real problems," while Biden claimed to be "reestablishing American leadership in the world."

China responded with a foreign ministry spokeswoman pointing out all countries had problems, including the United States, while sticking to positive talking points on the summit.

"The key to stabilizing and improving China-US relations is both sides working together, and the most fundamental condition is mutual respect," spokeswoman Mao Ning said.

Expectations of major announcements are low but the two countries have trailed a series of possible wins from Xi's first visit to US soil since he was hosted by then-president Donald Trump in 2017.

One is a possible restoration of the two countries' military hotline, which Beijing severed after then-House speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in 2022.

There were also hopes of "progress" on cooperation to limit Chinese exports of ingredients for fentanyl, the opioid drug sweeping America.

- 'Important for everyone' -

The two leaders were additionally expected to discuss the Israel-Hamas conflict and the Ukraine war.

On the eve of the summit, China and the United States also pledged to work more closely together on global warming.

Russia, a partner of China in what Washington sees as a growing authoritarian alliance, welcomed the San Francisco meeting, with the Kremlin calling the talks "important for everyone."

For his part Xi is expected to push for an end to trade curbs and sanctions, with the Chinese economy struggling to shore up growth after its tough zero-Covid policy.

The Chinese leader will host a dinner with US executives after the summit.

Biden and Xi both landed on Tuesday in San Francisco, where thousands of people lined the streets waving the red and gold flags of China.

The pair will be hoping to capitalize on a personal history that goes back almost a decade and a half.

The pair first met when then-vice-president Biden was dispatched by president Barack Obama in 2011 to meet Xi, at the time also the number two in the Chinese hierarchy.

J.Peterson--SFF