(Bloomberg) — President will see Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi when he visits the White House on Friday, a courtesy gesture that could lay the groundwork for a leaders’ meeting next month, according to a person familiar with the matter.
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China’s top diplomat will have two days of meetings in Washington with Secretary of State and National Security Advisor . Biden and Chinese will possibly meet in San Francisco next month when the US hosts an economic summit for Asia-Pacific nations.
Biden for months has said he hoped to meet Xi in the fall, but Chinese officials have so far declined to confirm his attendance at the mid-November gathering.
The relationship between the world’s two largest economies steadily improved from a low point earlier this year after the US military shot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon and tensions simmered over Taiwan.
Since the summer, a number of US cabinet officials have visited Beijing for talks with their counterparts and made progress on macroeconomic issues.
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Wang and Sullivan met last month in Malta, in an effort to keep channels of communication open and reduce the risk of conflict. They discussed China’s relationship with Russia and Beijing’s ongoing support for Moscow in its invasion of Ukraine, which US officials have warned should not cross the line of providing lethal aid.
Wang’s visit will be the first by China’s top foreign policy official since March 2021.
(Updates with context.)
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