The president of United States, Joe Bidenmet this Friday with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of China, Wang Yiwhom he called to respond together to “global challenges.”
“The president emphasized that both the United States and China need to manage their relationship responsibly and keep lines of communication open“, the White House said in a statement in which it also stressed that “the United States and China must work together to address global challenges.”
Wang Yi is on a rare visit to Washington, where he held a series of talks on Thursday and Friday with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, as well as President Biden. The meetings are part of an attempt to calm a tumultuous relationship between both countries and find common ground.
The Chinese minister also plans to meet with national security advisor Jake Sullivan.
The conversations could serve to prepare for a future visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to the United Statespossibly on the sidelines of the Apec (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit, which will be held in San Francisco in mid-November.
Washington has been trying for months to smooth things over with Beijing, a need that now becomes even more urgent given the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Specifically, the United States wants for China to use its influence over Iran to dissuade the Persian country from entering the war and avoid a regional conflict.
Joe Biden and Xi Jinping last met in November last year during the G20 in Bali (Indonesia), where they agreed to maintain regular contacts after years of deterioration in the bilateral relationship due to trade war between both countries, the situation in Taiwan or military activities in the South China Sea.
But those efforts were blown up last February, when Washington accused Beijing of having sent a Chinese spy balloon into US airspace.
The relationship did not begin to improve until Blinken’s trip to Beijing in June, which was followed by visits from other US officials such as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
The governor of California, Democrat Gavin Newsom, met this Wednesday with Xi Jinping in Beijing.
Xi’s last trip to the United States was in April 2017 when he met with then-President Donald Trump (2017-2021) in Florida.
(With information from AFP and EFE)
Source-www.infobae.com