On Wednesday, November 15, 2023, Joe Biden, The current U.S. president, and Xi Jinping, the current president of China, are expected to meet. This will only be their second face-to-face meeting. The meeting will take place during the APEC summit, which the US is hosting in San Francisco from November 11 to 17.

The meeting will cover a wide range of topics such as the Israel-Hamas war, Taiwan, the war in Ukraine, and election interference. They will also try to build trade ties with the countries despite their tensions.  Mr Biden’s most urgent request will be for China to restrain Iran from escalating violence in the Middle East in response to the Israel-Hamas war. 

Relations between the two countries deteriorated earlier this year with the US accusing China of sending a spy balloon across its airspace, so they are trying to rebuild relations between the countries. Nancy Pelosi also paid a visit to Taiwan last year which deteriorated the two countries’ relations even further. Xi Jinping may ask for additional reassurances that the US does not support Taiwan. Despite all this, Mr Biden is determined to restore channels between the countries, but China appeared reluctant to do so.