Biden says 'sure' to see Xi if he joins G20 meeting in Bali
07 September 2022, 08:40 pm | Updated: 23 November 2024, 05:00 pm
US President Joe Biden on Tuesday said he was "sure" he'd meet Xi Jinping in November if the Chinese leader decides to attend a G20 meeting planned in Indonesia's resort island of Bali, reports AFP.
"If he's there I'm sure I'll see him," Biden told reporters at the White House.
Biden has not met with Xi since becoming president in January 2021, limiting contact between the two superpower leaders to a series of phone and video calls.
Tensions are mounting over China's threats to US-backed Taiwan and a still unresolved trade dispute between the world's two biggest economies.
However, opportunities for a summit have been squeezed by the global Covid-19 pandemic and Xi's cutting of international travel.
In August, President Joko Widodo of Indonesia told Bloomberg that both Xi and Russia's President Vladimir Putin would be at the Group of 20 summit, also setting up the possibility of the first Biden-Putin encounter since Moscow's order to invade Ukraine.
The White House has yet to confirm details of Biden's travel plans.
During their last phone exchange, held in July, a US official said Biden and Xi had decided to "find a mutually agreeable time" for a face-to-face meeting.
