Xi Jinpin, Joe Biden To Meet As Trump’s Return Looms

Joe Biden, the US president, and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will on Saturday have their final meeting, a day after both leaders warned of turbulent times ahead as Donald Trump returns to the White House.

Both men arrived Saturday morning for the second and final day of an Asia-Pacific economic summit in Peru overshadowed by the prospect of fresh trade wars and diplomatic upheaval when Trump starts his second term.

Trump’s comeback has cast a cloud of uncertainty over efforts — launched at a historic meeting between Xi and Biden in California a year ago — to ease a tense relationship between Washington and Beijing.

The White House said Saturday’s Xi-Biden meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit would focus on a “delicate period of transition” and ensuring that competition with China “doesn’t veer into conflict.”

Trump’s crushing election win over Democrat Kamala Harris sent shock waves around the globe and dominated the meeting of heads of state of the 21-member APEC group.

Before their face-to-face meeting scheduled for 4:00 pm (2100 GMT), Biden and Xi were to take part in a closed-door “retreat” with other leaders from countries including Canada, Chile, Singapore, Australia, Malaysia and Japan.

Xi and Biden, who will be meeting for the third time overall, warned separately at the summit on Friday of choppy waters ahead.

The Chinese president raised concerns about “spreading unilateralism and protectionism” in a written speech to the forum, China’s state news agency Xinhua reported.

For his part, Biden said the world had “reached a moment of significant political change.”

Billionaire Republican Trump has signaled a confrontational approach to Beijing, threatening to impose tariffs of up to 60 percent on imports of Chinese goods to even out what he says is a trade imbalance.

He has also named two major China hawks in his top team, including Marco Rubio for secretary of state.

As Biden raced to salvage what he could of his foreign policy legacy, he met Friday with the leaders of Japan and South Korea — key US allies in Asia.

Biden said strong US ties with the two countries were essential for “countering North Korea’s dangerous and destabilizing cooperation with Russia” as Pyongyang sends troops to fight in Ukraine.