Biden-Xi call is under consideration amid US-China tensions

Bloomberg

US officials are working to arrange a possible call this summer between President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to two people in Washington familiar with the plans, with tensions high between the world’s two biggest economies.
The people didn’t have more details on what the US would want to be the focus of the call, but top Biden administration officials have emphasized the importance of putting “guard rails” on the relationship with Beijing to prevent disagreements from escalating into crisis.
Ukraine, Taiwan and human rights are among the many sore points in US-China relations, and the two nations have been jockeying for greater influence in the Indo-Pacific region.
“We want stability in the relationship — that takes connecting,” US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns said Thursday at an event hosted by the Brookings Institution when asked about the state of play between the countries. “Of course, our ultimate channel is the channel between our two presidents.
One person familiar with planning said a potential summer call could come as soon as July but any in-person meeting of the two leaders would wait until after China’s Communist Party congress late in the year. Xi — who is seeking to secure a third term as China’s leader — has also halted international travel since Covid-19 emerged more than two years ago.
Asked about a potential meeting, Liu Pengyu, spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, said in an email only that China and the US “have smooth communications channels.” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Friday at a regular press briefing in Beijing that he had no information about a call. “We always believe it’s beneficial to keep the lines of communication open at all levels,” he added.
A spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council said Thursday that the Biden administration continues to maintain open lines of communication to manage competition with China but had no future calls or meetings to announce at this time.
A call would follow a lengthy meeting between US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and top Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi in Luxembourg this week. The US said that meeting “included candid, substantive, and productive discussion of a number of regional and global security issues, as well as key issues in US-China relations.”