by Joseph Weber and Madeleine Hubbard
President Biden will meet Monday with China President Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia, the White House announced Thursday.
The meeting will be what is referred to as “on the sidelines” of the event, which mean it will not be part of the official public agenda.
China has world’s biggest economy after the U.S.
Biden on Wednesday at a White House press conference said he would soon meet with Xi.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday the two leaders will “discuss efforts to maintain and deepen lines of communication” and how to “responsibly manage competition and work together where our interests align.”
When asked during the press conference about the meeting, Biden said, “I’ve spent over 78, I think they told me, hours with him so far – 67 in person, when I was vice president.”
Biden said he wants to understand what Xi “believes to be in the critical national interests of China, what I know to be the critical interests of the United States, and to determine whether or not they conflict with one another.”
When asked whether he would tell Xi that he is committed to defending the Taiwan, Biden said, “I’m going to have that conversation with him.”
China has recently warned the U.S. about getting involved in its conflict with the island amid rising tensions in the region.
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Joseph Weber comes to JusttheNews after covering national politics for Fox News since 2011. Madeleine Hubbard joined Just the News as a fast file reporter after working as an editor at Breitbart News.
