On Wednesday, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will have his first meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in over a year. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss ways to reduce tensions between the two hostile nations about armed conflicts, drug trafficking, and artificial intelligence.

However, significant headway on the wide gaps between the global economic giants may have to be postponed until another time.

In each of the following areas—Taiwan, the South China Sea, the Israel-Hamas war, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, North Korea, and human rights—the leaders of the United States and China have been unable to overcome long-standing disputes, so officials on both sides of the Pacific have set low expectations for what will be discussed when Vice President Biden and President Xi meet on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, Vice President Biden and President Xi of China arrived in San Francisco, where they planned to meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.

Amid a weakening Chinese economy, Beijing’s simmering territorial feuds with neighbors, and a crisis in the Middle East that is splitting the United States from its friends, leaders from the 21-member countries group will gather in San Francisco, along with hundreds of CEOs in the city, to woo them.

Despite attempts to remove homeless people from the city’s streets, the meticulously choreographed visit that Xi is planning to make to the tumultuous city in Northern California may not go according to plan. In an uncommon scene for Xi, who had previously visited the United States in 2017, protestors for and against China’s governing Communist Party lined the path from the airport to the conference venue.

Biden has attempted to engage in direct diplomacy with Xi, gambling that a personal relationship he has established over a dozen years with the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong could be able to rescue bilateral relations that are fast growing hostile.

Xi and Biden are expected to meet at a magnificent estate several miles outside of San Francisco. This estate was picked explicitly for its safety, tranquility, and isolation from the conference area.

John Kirby, a spokeswoman for the White House, told reporters who were onboard Air Force One that “the table has been set” over several weeks for what they believe would be a fruitful, frank, and constructive talk. Kirby made these remarks to the reporters aboard Air Force One.

IRAN, INTERFERENCE IN THE ELECTIONS

During the discussion, which may continue for hours, it is anticipated that Vice President Biden will exert pressure on President Xi to use China’s influence to persuade Iran not to take provocative action or encourage its proxies to enter the war. This is done to prevent a regional escalation of the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

In addition to this, it is anticipated that he would bring up Chinese “influence operations” in international elections as well as the situation of American individuals who, according to the United States government, are being held in China against their will.

Officials from the United States anticipated that actual actions would be taken to restart staff-level talks between the two nations on a variety of particular topics, including but not limited to limiting the flow of fentanyl, regulating the expansion of artificial intelligence technology, managing trade and climate, and minimizing the risk of nuclear war. U.S. officials claim that China is the source of a significant portion of the ingredients that are utilized in the production of fentanyl.

After the COVID-19 epidemic, Biden, who is 80 years old, presides over an economy that has surpassed forecasts and the economies of most wealthy nations. Even though he is with voters in the United States, he is running for reelection in the face of growing worries about the viability of democracy in the United States.

He has rallied the nation’s traditional friends from Europe to Asia to face Russia in Ukraine, even though some of these countries have divergent opinions about the war between Israel and Hamas.

Xi, who is ten years younger than Biden, has increased his authority over the government’s policies, state officials, the media, and the military and changed the constitution. Recently, the country has been knocked off the rocket-propelled growth trajectory that it had been on for the past three decades due to piling economic issues.

As Beijing pursues its aspirations in the Indo-Pacific area, government officials anticipate that Beijing will test the United States in the coming weeks, taking advantage of what is believed to be a change in focus on the United States’ part toward Ukraine and Israel.

Vice President Biden is anticipated to reaffirm to President Xi that the United States maintains its obligations in the Indo-Pacific region. In recent years, China has taken actions in the Taiwan Strait, the South China Sea, and the East China Sea, all of which are contested international waters. These actions have caused concern among China’s neighbors. According to one of the officials from the United States, Vice President Biden would also declare a particular commitment to the safety of the Philippines.