Nearly a year to the date since their last meeting, U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping will sit down Wednesday in the San Francisco Bay Area to try and put a floor under ties marked by persistent tensions in recent months.
When Biden and Xi meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in San Francisco, both will have a laundry list of concerns to discuss. From military-to-military lines of communication, Taiwan and the South and East China seas to tough U.S. semiconductor export controls, the manufacture and export of fentanyl and artificial intelligence threats — all will be on the table during several hours of discussions.
But don’t expect the talks — the pair’s seventh interaction since the start of the Biden administration but just the second in-person meeting — to yield any dramatic breakthroughs.