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Saturday will mark the final meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, taking place just a day after both leaders raised alarms over the turbulent period expected to unfold, with Donald Trump’s return to the White House a looming factor.
The two leaders arrived early on Saturday for the final day of an Asia-Pacific economic summit in Peru, a meeting now colored by the unsettling prospect of new trade conflicts and diplomatic tensions that could arise once Donald Trump begins his second term in office.
The prospect of Trump’s comeback has raised doubts about the future of the diplomatic efforts between Washington and Beijing, which began with a historic meeting between Presidents Xi and Biden in California last year, intended to ease the growing tensions between the two nations.
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.
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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.
