Chinese officials are planning for President Xi Jinping to visit Southeast Asian nations and meet face-to-face with US President Joe Biden in November, Wall Street Journal reported.
This visit comes after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan which has irked the Chinese government and in response, they launched a military drill around the self-ruled island.
This visit would mark the Chinese leader’s first international trip in nearly three years and his first in-person meeting with Biden since the American leader’s inauguration.
According to the publication, this trip preparations suggest that Xi is confident about his fortunes at a twice-a-decade congress set to take place this fall, where he is expected to break with recent precedent and claim a third term as Communist Party chief.
The Chinese leader is first expected to conclude the party Congress and then would likely attend a summit of leaders from the Group of 20 nations on the Indonesian island of Bali from November 15 to 16. And after two days, Xi is expected to travel to Bangkok, Thailand’s capital to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, they said.
However, the plans can change as it is still at the early stage and the part of preparations is to prepare a possible meeting between Xi and Biden on the sidelines of one of the two summits, the people said.
“China supports Indonesia and Thailand as the hosts of the two conferences, and is willing to work with all parties to promote the conference to achieve positive results,” China’s Foreign Ministry said in a response to The Wall Street Journal’s question on Xi’s potential trip.
Meanwhile, the White House said that the two leaders discussed a possible face-to-face meeting during their recent call and agreed to have their teams follow up to sort out the specifics. The official declined to provide details on the time or location, according to Wall Street Journal.
Recently, when Pelosi visited Taiwan against China’s wishes, Beijing started holding large-scale military exercises while threatening to take over the self-ruled island. After more than a week-long training near Taiwan, China on Wednesday announced that it has concluded its military drills, simulating an attack on the island.
PLA’s Eastern Theater Command said it had successfully completed various missions during recent drills around Taiwan and effectively tested the troops’ joint operation combat capacity, state media outlet Global Times reported.
The Chinese military said they will regularly organize combat readiness patrols in the Taiwan Strait.
Justifying its large-scale military drills and airspace violations in the East and South China sea, China said that after Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, the country is now preparing itself for every possible scenario.
Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying said that Pelosi’s Taiwan visit is a major provocation that upgraded US-Taiwan relations and a real threat to China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity adding that China has to prepare itself for every possible scenario.
Recently, on Friday, as many as 24 Chinese aircraft and six vessels were detected by the Taiwan Defence Ministry near its territory, two days after China halted its large-scale military drills near the self-ruled island. (ANI)
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