Joe Biden and Xi Jinping met for the first time in over a year for high-stakes talks on Wednesday to try and bury the hatchet amid dangerously escalating tensions between Washington and Beijing.
The leaders of the two superpowers are trying to prevent their nations’ rivalry from spilling into conflict at the crucial summit in San Francisco on Wednesday.
Biden and Xi came face-to-face on a red carpet at the Filoli country estate on the outskirts of San Francisco, where they are expected to hold at least three hours of talks.
Washington-Beijing relations have been seriously strained since the U.S. shot down the Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina in February.
The leaders of the world’s two largest economies met with concerns soaring over issues including Taiwan, Beijing’s actions in the South China Sea sanctions, espionage, trade and human rights.
They are also expected to cover a wide range of topics, including the flow of fentanyl into the U.S., climate change and the accelerating use of A.I.
Joe Biden and Xi Jinping met for the first time in over a year for high-stakes talks on Wednesday to try and bury the hatchet amid dangerously escalating tensions between Washington and Beijing
President Biden drives past protesters in his motorcade in downtown San Francisco
The crunch talks occurred after San Francisco’s homeless were cleared from the streets in a massive clean-up operation to avoid Xi seeing the squalor.
But there was still chaos around the summit.
As the meeting began hundreds of anti-oil, pro-Palestine protesters clashed with riot police outside the APEC summit.
The demonstrators, wearing yellow vests, tried to block people from attending the CEO summit at the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum but were unsuccessful as attendees entered through an alleyway.
‘We won’t allow genocide to be normalized,’ an organizer with the No APEC Coalition told the the San Francisco Standard.
The protesters chanted: ‘Biden, Biden telling lies, you don’t care if the planes dies’ and ‘shut down APEC.’
The group is protesting corporate profits, environmental abuses, poor working conditions, the Israel-Hamas war and capitalism at large.
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The secluded Filoli estate is a historic country house with lavish gardens nestled in Northern California’s coastal range about 25 miles south of San Francisco.
It is set in 650 acres and includes an English Renaissance-style garden.
Officials hope the peaceful setting will contribute to a positive outcome for the talks.
‘If they like each other, they are likely to start trusting each other and to communicate better,’ said Jeremi Suri, a professor of public affairs and history at the University of Texas at Austin.
‘A place like this allows them to get away, not just from the media, but from a lot of the other things that encourage conflict.’
Protesters clashed with riot police as thousands of people descended into the streets of San Francisco to ‘shut down’ the APEC summit on Wednesday morning
‘We won’t allow genocide to be normalized,’ an organizer said
The secluded Filoli estate is a historic country house with lavish gardens nestled in Northern California’s coastal range about 25 miles south of San Francisco.
It is set in 650 acres and includes an English Renaissance-style garden.
Officials hope the peaceful setting will contribute to a positive outcome for the talks.
‘If they like each other, they are likely to start trusting each other and to communicate better,’ said Jeremi Suri, a professor of public affairs and history at the University of Texas at Austin.
‘A place like this allows them to get away, not just from the media, but from a lot of the other things that encourage conflict.’
President Joe Biden is set to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Filoli estate, according to Voice of America
The Georgian revival-style mansion has a total of 54,000 square feet
The home is located in Woodside on the Peninsula near San Francisco
