WASHINGTON (dpa)
US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are to hold their first face-to-face meeting in a year this weekend during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Peru, a senior White House official said on Wednesday.
Tensions between the world's two largest economies have led to minimal communication at this level over recent years. The meeting in Lima will take place on Saturday, little more than a month before Donald Trump takes over as US president.
"We expect the president will use the opportunity to take stock of efforts to responsibly manage competition over the last four years and how the two countries have advanced areas of shared interest, even amidst deep differences and intense competition," the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said.
They are also likely to discuss the war in Ukraine. The official noted that the US and China had resumed communication between their armed forces last year.
Biden had always stressed human rights issues in conversations with Xi and would likely do so again, she said.
Biden and Xi last met on the sidelines of an APEC summit in California in November last year, following a year without contact, even by phone.
That meeting was held away from the summit venue outside San Francisco. The two leaders had not seen each other since the G20 Bali summit in November 2022.
The California meeting aimed to stabilise relations and revive contact, particularly between their respective militaries.
In April, Biden and Xi spoke by phone for the first time since the crisis meeting in California, and top-level official meetings were also held.