Joe Biden and Xi Jinping to Meet for Talks at Bali Ahead of G20 Summit

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - United States President Joe Biden will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping for the first time in Bali today, November 14, 2022, ahead of the G20 Summit. The White House and Beijing have confirmed that Biden and Xi will have a dialogue amid intense rivalry between the two.

Biden and Xi were expected to discuss topics ranging from Taiwan, the nuclear ambitions of Ukraine and North Korea, to issues around the G20 without the attendance of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The face-to-face meeting this Monday will be held at Hotel Mulia in Nusa Dua. Biden and Xi have held five phone or video calls since Biden became president in January 2021. According to the White House, the meeting is unlikely to result in a joint statement but helps stabilize bilateral ties.

Communications with Xi will be Biden's first in-person contact since he took office. Relations between Washington and Beijing have previously been strained by tensions generated by the trade war and power struggles in the Indo-Pacific.

It is believed that the U.S. still wants to keep the dialogue open, regardless of the differences. The White House said Xi Jinping and Joe Biden's talks in Bali could take hours.

The meeting of heads of state of the G20 members is overshadowed by the global crisis in the food and energy sector, which was triggered by the Ukraine war. In a number of ministerial meetings, several Western countries led by the U.S. strongly condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine and its impacts.

Indonesia’s President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, who had just arrived on Sunday evening from Cambodia for the ASEAN Summit, said he is ready to fight for peace at the Bali G20 summit. Even though Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said it would not be a problem if the G20 did not produce a joint statement.

DANIEL AHMAD | REUTERS

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