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Opinion | Xi Jinping and Joe Biden must meet face to face at G20 summit in Rome to settle the world’s nerves
- A Xi-Biden meeting would go a long way to reassure a world anxious about the prospects of a new cold war, let alone a hot one
- Not meeting would cement the perception that the only two men who can steer the world away from the abyss missed an important opportunity to do so
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The Group of 20 summit, which will take place in Rome on October 30 and 31, is considered the most opportune venue for Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden to hold their first face-to-face meeting since the latter took office.
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Such a meeting would be long overdue, considering the rapid deterioration in US-China relations. By the time of the G20 summit, Biden will have been in office for more than nine months after having met every major world leader but Xi.
Biden might have taken his time in readying himself to meet Xi, but his in-person attendance at the G20 and his willingness to meet are all but certain. Xi’s attendance, on the other hand, is not.
On August 23, the Post reported that Xi is considering skipping the trip to Rome and instead participating in the summit via video link. Readouts from the September 9 phone call between the two leaders did not offer any indication that a meeting is on the horizon.
This would be a missed opportunity. With this year’s meeting of the leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum being held virtually, 2021 offers no more venues for top-level in-person gatherings where the two leaders can meet on the sidelines.
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G7, Nato rhetoric mark ‘seismic shift’ between China and the West
G7, Nato rhetoric mark ‘seismic shift’ between China and the West
To be sure, Biden and Xi can agree to a special meeting in a neutral location in the same format as Biden’s summit with Vladimir Putin in Geneva, in June. But, under the current political conditions, such a meeting would be difficult to orchestrate.
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