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Biden and Xi will meet on Saturday, the 3rd and likely final time during Biden's term
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LIMA, Peru — President Biden will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Lima, Peru, his national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Wednesday.
This is the third meeting between the two leaders during Biden's term in office, and likely to be the final one. Their last meeting was about a year ago in Woodside, Calif.
The meeting comes as Biden prepares to hand the reins of power to President-elect Donald Trump. Biden plans to tell Xi that "we need to maintain stability, clarity, predictability through this transition" and that over the long term, communication channels between the two governments need to remain open, especially at the military-to-military level, Sullivan said.
"It's an important meeting. It will not be just a valedictory, although there will be an element of reflecting over the course of their long relationship," he said. "There is actual work to do in this critical moment between the U.S. and China to ensure that we don't run into any problems in the next two months in this transition of power."
Biden wants to "consolidate progress" on areas where there is common ground between the two nations — on stemming the flow of illicit fentanyl, manage the risks associated with artificial intelligence, and climate issues, Sullivan said.
Biden had built on parts of Trump's China policy during his term, elevating meetings of the informal grouping known as the Quad — the U.S., Japan, India and Australia — and maintaining Trump's tariffs on China, for the most part.
Biden also put in place new export control measures for sensitive technologies, to prevent them China from using them.
Sullivan said he sees some continuity between the two administrations , singling out Rep. Mike Waltz, who Trump named as his national security adviser, and Sen. Marco Rubio, who Trump will nominate for Secretary of State, for their focus on the strategic challenges posed by China.
Trump threatened during his campaign to hike tariffs on China again. Biden could use his meeting with Xi to underscore that China needs to change its trade practices, not just threaten retaliation, said Danny Russel, a top State Department official in the Obama administration, in an interview.
"I would look to Biden to make some practical points, because the likelihood of the Trump administration imposing tariffs is real," said Russel, now with the Asia Society. "And that should be a clarion call to the big offenders like China that they need to adjust their policies and their practices."
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