President Biden and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, will meet virtually Monday night for the third conversation between the two leaders since Biden took office in January, the White House announced Friday.
“The two leaders will discuss ways to responsibly manage the competition between the United States and the PRC, as well as ways to work together where our interests align,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement, referring to China by its official acronym.
“Throughout, President Biden will make clear U.S. intentions and priorities and be clear and candid about our concerns with the PRC,” she added.
The two leaders last spoke Sept. 9, during which Xi reportedly snubbed Biden’s request to meet in person.
Tensions between Washington and Beijing have risen exponentially in recent months over trade, human rights abuses by China, the Communist nation’s response to the initial COVID-19 outbreak and its military ambitions.
Monday’s meeting will be the first between Biden and Xi since reports emerged that China had tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile in August. The reported test drew concerns from Biden and US military leaders who warned of the speed of China’s technological development.
This week, the Wall Street Journal reported that the US has begun testing an Iron Dome missile defense system in Guam, as a potential shield from possible attacks from China.
It was not clear whether the two leaders would discuss the ongoing pandemic. On Monday, Biden listened to a question about how he planned to get China to be transparent about the initial outbreak in the city of Wuhan before walking off without answering.
Biden did not raise the issue on the Sept. 9 call with Xi, which was the first conversation between the two leaders since the US intelligence community submitted a report to the president on the origins of COVID-19 following a 90-day review. That review was inconclusive on the question of whether the virus jumped from animals to humans or escaped from a research facility.
However, US spy agencies have assessed that it was “plausible” that the virus leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki declined to say whether Biden will bring up COVID-19 during Monday’s call, saying “there will be a broad range of topics that will be discussed and the president’s certainly not going to hold back” on areas he is concerned about.
Psaki was also pressed on whether the president will confront Xi over human rights after the US Holocaust Memorial Museum released a report this week that found “a reasonable basis” to believe that Beijing’s crimes against humanity against Uighur Muslims include “forced sterilization, sexual violence, enslavement, torture,” and forced resettlement.
“I would say,” the press secretary answered, “that one of the purposes of this leader-to-leader engagement is to also discuss areas where you have strong concern and disagreement.”