This yr’s Biden-Xi summit has higher basis however South China Sea and Taiwan dangers gained’t go away
BEIJING — The course of occasions within the yr for the reason that final assembly between Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping provides cautious hope that they are going to have higher luck this time round. But it additionally exhibits how simply any settlement they attain may as soon as once more veer off beam.
The U.S. and Chinese leaders meet Wednesday whereas attending the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco.
They go into the assembly on the again of 5 months of government-to-government talks which have accelerated in current weeks and expanded to cultural and enterprise exchanges. In distinction, the November 2022 assembly in Bali, Indonesia, happened after China had suspended talks to precise anger over a go to by then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan.
“This rests on a stronger foundation than the Bali meeting did,” mentioned Jude Blanchette, a China skilled on the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “Substantively and contextually this meeting is taking place in a moderately better environment.”
But tensions over Taiwan and flare-ups between China and the Philippines within the South China Sea are a sobering reminder that an sudden incident may set again efforts to enhance ties, simply as an apparently errant Chinese balloon did early this yr.
Talk additionally solely goes thus far with the 2 governments essentially at odds over know-how, protection, commerce and Taiwan. Last month, the Biden administration expanded restrictions on know-how exports to China.
Recent expertise has proven that extra frequent communication “does not exclude the continued expansion and escalation of America’s preparations for war and high-tech deterrence against China, nor does it exclude China’s corresponding countermeasures, protests and preparations,” mentioned Shi Yinhong, a world relations professor at Renmin University of China,
Rather than attaining main breakthroughs, the hope is that the leaders will set the tone for significant dialogue on a spread of points within the coming months, Blanchette mentioned. “The more probable reality is it’s going to be a little bit of that but we have a lot of speed bumps that can trip up the two at any point.”
November 2022
Nov. 14: Biden meets Xi for 3 hours in the course of the Group of 20 assembly in Bali, Indonesia, in his first in-person assembly with the Chinese chief since changing into president.
December
Dec. 6: The Biden administration approves the sale of greater than $425 million of spare plane elements for Taiwan’s F-16 fighters, C-130 transport planes and different U.S.-supplied weapons techniques.
January 2023
Jan. 18: U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen meets Vice Premier Liu He in Zurich. It is the highest-ranking contact between the 2 nations for the reason that Biden-Xi assembly in Bali.
February
Feb. 2: U.S.-China ties are upended by reviews {that a} Chinese surveillance balloon is flying over the United States. Secretary of State Antony Blinken calls off a deliberate journey to China.
Feb. 18: Blinken tells Wang Yi, China‘s top foreign policy official, at a meeting in Munich that China must never send a surveillance balloon over the U.S. again. Wang criticizes the U.S. for shooting it down.
Feb. 21: A U.S. congressional delegation affirms America’s dedication to democracy and freedom in a gathering in Taiwan with President Tsai Ing-wen.
March
March 1: The U.S. approves the sale of $619 million of missiles, launchers and different munitions for Taiwan’s F-16 fighter jets.
May
May 10-11: Jake Sullivan, the U.S. nationwide safety adviser, tells Wang at talks in Vienna that the U.S. desires to maneuver past the balloon incident.
May 26: A Chinese fighter jet flies in entrance of a U.S. reconnaissance airplane over the South China Sea in what the U.S. navy calls an “unnecessarily aggressive maneuver.”
June
June 2-4: China‘s Defense Minister Li Shangfu turns down a meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at the Shangri-La defense dialogue in Singapore. On June 3, a Chinese navy ship cuts across the path of an American destroyer in the Taiwan Strait.
June 18-19: Blinken meets Xi and Wang in Beijing in what will become the first of four U.S. Cabinet-level officials to visit over two months.
July
July 8: Yellen travels to Beijing to meet officials including Vice Premier He Lifeng, who has taken over the economic portfolio from now former Vice Premier Liu He.
July 19: Chinese Vice President Han Zheng tells visiting U.S. climate envoy John Kerry that China is willing to work with the U.S. on reducing global warming as long as its political demands are met.
August
Aug. 23: The Biden administration approves the sale to Taiwan of $500 million in infrared search tracking systems and related equipment for F-16 fighters.
Aug. 28-29: Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, meeting senior officials in Beijing, rebuffs their appeals to reduce U.S. controls on technology exports to China.
September
Sept. 9: Biden has a brief exchange with Chinese Premier Li Qiang while both are at the Group of 20 summit in India.
Sept. 11: A Chinese naval formation led by the aircraft carrier Shandong sails about 70 miles (110 kilometers) southeast of Taiwan to conduct drills simulating air, submarine, sea and land attacks.
Sept. 16-17: Sullivan and Wang hold 12 hours of talks in Malta.
Sept: 17: China’s navy sends 103 plane towards Taiwan in a 24-hour interval, an unusually excessive quantity. Chinese warplanes fly towards the island and again on virtually a each day foundation.
Sept. 18: Chinese Vice President Han Zheng maintain talks with Blinken in the course of the U.N. General Assembly in New York.
Sept. 22: The U.S. Treasury Department and China’s Ministry of Finance launch working teams to debate financial and monetary points.
October
Oct. 9: Xi meets U.S. Senate delegation led by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. It’s the primary congressional delegation to go to China in 4 years.
Oct. 17: The U.S. broadens its export controls to cease China from buying superior pc chips and the tools to fabricate them.
Oct. 18: Russian President Vladimir Putin meets Xi in Beijing on a uncommon journey overseas to attend China‘s Belt and Road Forum. China and the U.S. are divided over the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Oct. 22: Chinese ships collide with two Philippine ships delivering supplies to troops in the South China Sea, prompting a warning from the U.S. that it would defend the Philippines in case of an armed attack
Oct. 24: A Chinese fighter jet flies within 10 feet of an American B-52 bomber flying over the South China Sea in a nighttime intercept. Separately, China announces the dismissal of Defense Minister Li Shangfu with no explanation why.
Oct. 25: Xi has a surprise meeting with California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is on a weeklong visit to China to deepen cooperation on climate.
Oct. 27: Wang meets Biden in Washington, D.C., as well as Sullivan and Blinken as two sides hammer out details for a Biden-Xi summit. Wang meets Biden, Sullivan and Blinken in Washington, D.C.
Oct. 30: The U.S. sends the Pentagon’s prime China official to China‘s annual Xiangshan discussion board on safety. China‘s Vice President Han Zheng meets two American veterans who had been a part of the Flying Tigers command that helped defend China in opposition to Japan in World War II.
November
Nov 2: U.S. farm business teams maintain discussion board in Beijing to strengthen agricultural commerce. American Ballet Theatre opens its first tour to China in a decade.
Nov. 4-7: Climate envoys John Kerry and Xie Zhenhua meet in California forward of a U.N. local weather change convention that begins on Nov. 30 in Dubai.
Nov. 6: The U.S. and China maintain arms management talks in Washington. The U.S. has expressed concern about China‘s rising nuclear arsenal.
Nov 9: The Chinese and U.S. militaries talk about through video hyperlink the seek for the stays of American prisoners of conflict and lacking personnel.
Nov. 9-10: Vice Premier He Lifeng travels to San Francisco to satisfy Yellen, who says the talks helped lay the groundwork for a productive Biden-Xi summit.
Nov. 10: Members of the Philadelphia Orchestra carry out in Beijing to mark fiftieth anniversary of its historic 1973 go to.
Nov. 15: Xi and Biden holding summit throughout Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation assembly in San Francisco.
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Associated Press researcher Yu Bing in Beijing contributed to this report.
