The president of the United States, Joe Biden, and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, plan to meet virtually "before the end of the year," a senior white house official said on Wednesday.
There is a "principle of agreement" for a "virtual bilateral" meeting, the official said journalists under anonymous condition.
"The president said it would be nice to see XI, which has not done for some years," said the official. "We hope you have the possibility to see yourself, even if it is only virtually."
The official quoted press reports about XI will not attend the next meeting of G20 leaders in Rome, which would have been a natural place for Biden to organize a bilateral meeting.
The virtual meeting was announced after the United States National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, met in Zurich with China's maximum diplomat, Yang Jiechi. The senior official said that these conversations lasted six hours. During that meeting, Yang asked for the two countries to work together, according to the Chinese State News Agency Xinhua.
"When China and the United States cooperate, the two countries and the world will benefit; when China and the United States face, the two countries and the world will suffer seriously," he said, according to Xinhua's report.
He said that Beijing "gives importance to positive comments on relations between China and the United States" emitted by Biden recently.
Sullivan's journey reaffirms the improvement in the contacts between Beijing and Washington, since Biden advocates to establish "security barriers" for the growing tension between both powers, which increases from the aggressive position of China to Taiwan, the United States Decision to sell nuclear submarines to Australia, commercial disputes and human rights violations against the UYers in Xinjiang.
On Monday, the United States Commercial Representative, Katherine Tai, said he would soon talk to his Chinese counterpart, since a massive commercial dispute continues without an end to sight.
After the Zurich meeting, Sullivan will visit Brussels and Paris, where he will also inform about his meeting with the Yang Director "to the United States" allies and partners ", anticipated the White House.
Biden, who has known XI for years, held two telephone calls with the Chinese leader since he assumed the Presidency. The second, which lasted 90 minutes, took place last month.
Date Of Update: 08 October 2021, 16:45
