BEIJING – Chinese leader Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden will discuss “global peace and development” at a summit this week in San Francisco, Beijing said on Monday.
“The two heads of state will have in-depth communication on strategic, general and directional issues concerning China-US relations, as well as major issues concerning global peace and development,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular briefing.
“China is not afraid of competition, but we oppose defining the China-US relationship in terms of competition,” she added.
Biden and Xi will hold their first meeting in nearly a year this week on the sidelines of the APEC summit in California.
The two leaders will discuss a range of bilateral, regional and global issues as well as ways to “responsibly manage competition,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
The Xi-Biden summit follows a series of meetings in recent months between high-level officials in Beijing, Washington and elsewhere, but will be the leaders’ first encounter since November 2022 in Bali.
Wednesday’s meeting will aim to “stabilize” relations that have since plunged into deep freeze, a senior US official said, cautioning not to expect major outcomes.
Mao urged the United States on Monday to “earnestly respect China’s reasonable concerns and legitimate development rights, rather than only emphasising its own concerns while harming China’s interests”.
“China does not seek to change the United States, and the United States should also not seek to shape or change China,” she added.