By Trevor Hunnicutt
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden will meet Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping for likely the final time on Saturday, senior administration officials said, as Beijing prepares for a potentially more confrontational period with Washington under Donald Trump.
The two leaders are expected to hold talks spanning a range of global hot spots, including heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Lima, Peru.
It will be their first known interaction since an April phone call.
“The conversations are not easy,” said one of the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “That frankness has been important in managing the relationship.”
Biden and Xi have tried to keep tensions at bay over issues ranging from Taiwan to the South China Sea, North Korea and Russia, and American demands for more Chinese help to stem the flow of the ingredients for fentanyl, the leading cause of U.S. drug overdoses.
Biden and Xi restored leader-level talks last November that produced more cooperation on counter-narcotics efforts but little movement on bigger issues like a potential conflict over Taiwan, the democratically governed island that China claims as its own territory.
The Democratic administration finalized rules last month restricting U.S. investment in artificial intelligence, quantum computing and semiconductors in China that are set to take effect in January. That followed Biden raising tariffs on more goods from China.
Both steps were rejected by China as counterproductive.
Trump, a Republican, has vowed to adopt blanket 60% tariffs on U.S. imports of Chinese goods as part of a package of “America First” trade measures. Beijing opposes those steps.
The president-elect’s early personnel choices have included several hawkish voices on China in senior positions, such as U.S. Representative Mike Waltz as national security adviser.
Xi reportedly called Trump last week to congratulate him on his Nov. 5 election victory. Trump takes office on Jan. 20.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Additional reporting by Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Jamie Freed and Susan Heavey)