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Xi Jinping and Joe Biden expected to talk within weeks: Antony Blinken
- After five hours of discussions with his Chinese counterpart, US secretary of state says the summit will happen soon
- Blinken and Wang Yi have candid exchange on sidelines of G20 foreign ministers meeting in Bali
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US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping are set to speak again in the coming weeks, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday.
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Blinken spoke to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Saturday for more than five hours to help lay the groundwork for a call between the leaders. While Biden said last month he would speak with Xi “soon”, Blinken suggested it was getting closer.
“With regard to President Xi and President Biden, our expectation is that they will have an opportunity to speak in the weeks ahead,” Blinken said during a stop in Bangkok, Thailand.
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What China could gain, and lose, in the Ukraine-Russia crisis
What China could gain, and lose, in the Ukraine-Russia crisis
The US has stepped up criticism of China over its diplomatic support of Russia following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, which has contributed to surging inflation across the globe.
The White House is considering rolling back some punitive tariffs imposed on China by the Trump administration, but Biden said on Friday that a review was under way and he had not yet made a decision.
During a meeting on the sidelines of a Group of 20 foreign ministers meeting in Bali, Indonesia, Blinken said on Saturday that he told Wang that China was not neutral on the Ukraine war because there was no such thing as being neutral when there was a clear aggressor.
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He cited Xi’s recent call with Putin as evidence of Beijing’s ongoing support of Moscow.
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