TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

Jakarta Post

Xi rebuffs Biden's call for in-person summit in call last week: FT

"This is not an accurate portrayal of the call. Period," Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said in a statement.

Reuters
Washington, United States
Wed, September 15, 2021

Change text size

Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone

Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Xi rebuffs Biden's call for in-person summit in call last week: FT In this file combination of pictures created on June 8, 2021 shows Chinese President Xi Jinping (left) during a welcome ceremony for Bulgaria's President Rumen Radev in Beijing on July 3, 2019; and US President Joe Biden speaking at the White House in Washington, DC, on May 17, 2021. (AFP/Nicolas Asfouri/Nicholas Kamm)

P

resident Joe Biden proposed a first face-to-face summit with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in a call last week, but failed to secure an agreement, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, an account later denied by the White House.

"This is not an accurate portrayal of the call. Period," Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said in a statement.

The Financial Times cited multiple people briefed on last Thursday's 90-minute call as saying Xi did not take Biden up on the offer and instead insisted that Washington adopt a less strident tone toward Beijing.

A source who was among those briefed on the call confirmed the report was accurate.

"Xi apparently intimated that the tone and atmosphere of the relationship needed to be improved first," the source told Reuters.

China's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond when asked to comment.

The Financial Times quoted one of its sources as saying Biden had floated the summit as one of several possibilities for follow-on engagement with Xi, and he had not expected an immediate response.

It cited one US official as saying that while Xi did not engage with the idea of a summit, the White House believed that was partly due to concerns about COVID-19.

The G20 summit in Italy in October has been talked about as a possible venue for a face-to-face meeting, but Xi has not left China since the outbreak of the pandemic early last year.

In his statement, Sullivan added: "As we’ve said, the Presidents discussed the importance of being able to have private discussions between the two leaders, and we’re going to respect that."

The call between Biden and Xi was their first in seven months and they discussed the need to ensure that competition between the world's two largest economies does not veer into conflict.

A US official briefing before the conversation called it a test of whether direct top-level engagement could end what had become a stalemate in ties, which are at the worst level in decades.

The White House said afterward it was intended to keep channels of communication open, but it has announced no plans for follow-on engagements.

Chinese state media said Xi had told Biden that US policy on China imposed "serious difficulties" on relations, but added that both sides agreed to maintain frequent contact and ask working-level teams to step up communications.

Your Opinion Matters

Share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.

Share options

Quickly share this news with your network—keep everyone informed with just a single click!

Change text size options

Customize your reading experience by adjusting the text size to small, medium, or large—find what’s most comfortable for you.

Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone

Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!