China's Xi, Biden to meet in US amid Gaza conflict

ISTANBUL

US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will meet next week in California amid Israel's war on the Palestinian enclave of Gaza.

White House Spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said the meeting would take place on Nov. 15 in San Francisco.

"The leaders will discuss issues in the U.S.-PRC (People's Republic of China) bilateral relationship, the continued importance of maintaining open lines of communication, and a range of regional and global issues," she said in a statement.

Xi will be visiting the US on Nov. 14-17 to attend the 30th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

The meeting between leaders of the world's top two economies comes at a time when Israel has refused to heed international calls for a cease-fire in Gaza.

The US and its allies, however, have backed humanitarian pauses in Gaza which has seen one of the deadliest bombings in recent times.

Bejing has been seeking end to armed conflict, calling for a cease-fire.

At least 11,078 Palestinians have been killed, including 4,506 children and 3,027 women. The Israeli death toll, meanwhile, is nearly 1,600, according to official figures.

The White House spokeswoman said Biden and Xi will discuss how Washington and Beijing can continue to "responsibly manage competition and work together where our interests align, particularly on transnational challenges that affect the international community."

The meeting will be the first face-to-face meeting between Xi and Biden since their Bali, Indonesia summit that was held last November.

"The two leaders will have in-depth communication on issues of strategic, overarching and fundamental importance in shaping China-U.S. relations and major issues on world peace and development," said China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying on X.

She added that Xi will also share his country's proposals for deepening Asia-Pacific cooperation at the APEC Economic Leaders’ meeting.

Xi is also expected to meet Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida as the two sides are working to set a meeting around Nov. 16.

Tokyo wants to resume high-level contacts with Beijing as bilateral relations after years of rocky relations.

Takeo Akiba, Japan's top national security advisor, met with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday in Bejing about the possible meeting.